Contemporary art has the power to speak volumes. And artists have always played an important role in reflecting the social and environmental issues of our society through their vision. What’s impressive is, with sustainable practices at the forefront, there has been a surge among sustainability artists. These creators are trying their best to highlight the ecological concerns of our planet through various art design.
In today’s increasingly visual culture, images created by these sustainable artists are combined with compelling messages, making them more gripping than ever. With the endeavour to bring change, they are petitioning for action to address climate change and champion sustainability, before it’s too late. While every artist specializes in different genres, they all share the same goal— To protect Mother Earth.
Let’s check out these incredible sustainability artists, their works, and how they are contributing to creating awareness about environmental issues.
20 Sutainability Artits with a Mission
1. El Anatsui
2. Edward Burtynsky
3. Justin Brice Guariglia
4. Maya Lin
5. Agnes Denes
6. Andy Goldsworthy
7. Andreas Gursky
8. Olafur Eliasson
9. Marina DeBris
10. Bettina Werner
11. Ruth Wallen
12. Song Dong
13. Hiroyuki Nishimura
14. Choi Jeong Hwa
15. Elena Paroucheva
16. Marina Zurkow
17. Subhankar Banerjee
18. Mary Mattingly
19. Diane Burko
20. Tattfoo Tan
What is Sustainable Art?
Sustainable art is the creativity of designing artworks in harmony with the environment. These types of arts are usually made up of upcycled materials that are deemed unfit for other functional uses. Processes used to craft sustainable art have the lowest impact on the planet. And they focus on addressing concerns like climate crisis, soil pollution, ocean pollution, deforestation, and many more.
Sustainable artworks are categorized into different forms, such as eco-art, green art, environmental art, and so on. These creations are crafted to promote environmental sustainability and raise awareness about ecological issues to inspire positive change.
Who is a Sustainability Artist?
Sustainability artists are those who create art keeping in mind the key principles of sustainability. They basically use non-toxic, green materials in their art design and integrate the conceptual ideas of sustainability into their work, ensuring no natural resources were exploited in their work.
Sustainable creators are committed to reducing their environmental impact and promoting eco-friendly practices through their art design. They use their artistic skills and creative talents to address environmental concerns like climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution, and inspire others to take action towards a more sustainable future.
20 Unparalleled Sustainability Artists with a Mission
Sustainability artists are gifted with the creativity to design displays that are mirrors of our planet’s current polluted condition. It’s fascinating to witness how thoughtfully these creators use unfit materials to create a piece of art. Here’s presenting El Anatsui, Maya Lin, Andreas Gursky, Agnes Denes, Edward Burtynsky, Elena Paroucheva, Olafur Eliasson, Marina Zurkow, Justin Brice Guariglia, Andy Goldsworthy, Subhankar Banerjee, Song Dong, Choi Jeong Hwa, Mary Mattingly, Ruth Wallen, Tattfoo Tan, Bettina Warner, Hiroyuki Nishimura, Marina DeBris, and Diane Burko,
1. El Anatsui
El Anatsui is a Nigerian sculptor specifically known for his large-scale sculptures composed of waste and renewed materials. Famous for his prominent wall hangings, he uses bottle caps and seals recovered from the distilleries of Nigerian liquor brands, along with other folded and crumpled metal pieces sourced from local recycling stations.
While expressions like ‘recycling’ and ‘zero waste’ are pretty recent additions to our word list, El Anatsui has been working with scraps from as early as the 1970s and ’80s. His pieces are brightly coloured, richly textured and intricately designed and are both dazzling and weighty. Undoubtedly, you will stay hooked once you lay your eyes on this sustainability artist’s mindful yet extravagant creations. Bleeding Takari II and Erosion are some of his famous works.
2. Edward Burtynsky
Recognized as one of the most accomplished modern photographers, Edward Burtynsky is famous for his large-format pictures of industrial landscapes. He presents his vision through aerial photographs of scarred terrains and has been part of high-profile documentaries like Watermark.
In addition, the Canadian artist is a leading advocate of the art world, showcasing the climate crisis through the scores of destruction done by humans’ systematic exploitation of the planet’s natural resources. Burtynsky recently partnered with filmmakers Nicholas de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal on The Anthropocene Project. This program explores humanity’s impact on Mother Earth through film, virtual reality and science-based research.
3. Justin Brice Guariglia
Justin Brice Guariglia is a conceptual artist whose work delves deep into the relationship between humans and the nature since 2009. In the past decade, he has worked with several high-profile organisations in an effort to raise awareness on global warming issues like climate change and the wrecking of natural environments. In addition, the artist has been in partnership with NASA since 2015, working to document the rapid decline in Greenland’s glaciers.
As a devoted sustainability artist, Guariglia created an art design titled Climate Signals in 2018 in partnership with the New York City Mayor’s Office and the Climate Museum. These works comprised ten solar-powered highway signs around five New York City boroughs, with extraordinary messages alerting passersby to the actuality of rising sea levels and the dangers of the climate crisis.
4. Maya Lin
Maya Lin is an American sculptor who projects her work on environmental themes addressing environmental decline. She rose to fame at the age of 21, when she received national recognition for winning a design competition at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington in 1981. While the memorial is her most-celebrated work, Lin has been an environmental activist for many years now, and her work perfectly incorporates this essence into her practice.
Lin unveiled her latest work in 2021 involving a large-scale installation, Ghost Forest, in Manhattan’s Madison Square Park. The project is a towering stand of dead Atlantic cedar trees rescued from New Jersey’s Pine Barrens and planted amidst the park to highlight and address climate change in forests due to rising sea levels, the decline of biodiversity, and so on.
5. Agnes Denes
Agnes Denes is a pioneer of conceptual art showcasing her environmental concerns through gripping ecological work. One of her renowned works is Wheatfield — A Confrontation, which is a two-acre land transformed into a wheat field in downtown Manhattan. The work was a representation of cutting-edge visionary and land art movements and can be overlooked by the World Trade Center.
Over the decades, Denes has given life to many of her ideas by transforming desolate sites that accelerate climate action into lively natural oases, creating a beautiful alliance between nature and humans. Among her many achievements, Denes designed a flag which was hoisted over London’s Tate Britain on April 2021, bearing the words ‘The future is fragile. Handle with care.’
6. Andy Goldsworthy
British sculptor and land artist Andy Goldsworthy is an environmentalist known for his site-specific sculptures. From his work in the Yorkshire Sculpture Park in England to the Storm King Art Center in New York — Goldsworthy’s displays can be seen in landmark places, making him one of the prominent sustainability artists of our time. His art is deeply rooted in nature and usually includes elements like brightly coloured flowers, leaves, mud, pinecones, icicles, stone, twigs, and so on.
What’s impressive is Goldsworthy’s sculptures are impersonations of wildlife habitats, inviting the viewer to embrace the surroundings as part of a bodily experience. The artist quotes— “We often forget that we are nature.” “Nature is not something separate from us. So when we say that we have lost our connection to nature, we’ve lost our connection to ourselves.”
7. Andreas Gursky
German artist Andreas Gursky is another gem specializing in large-scale photographs with a contemporary take on 19th-century panoramic painting. However, instead of serene pastoral scenes, Gursky uses a high point of view to create digitally manipulated images of urban landscapes and architectural compositions. These pictures usually consist of apartment blocks, skyscrapers, rivers, solar panel fields, squares, and so on.
As an environmental enthusiast, Gursky’s work has recently become more engulfed with ecological issues. In his most famous Oceans series, he took satellite images of coastline areas threatened by rising sea levels. Another of his remarkable work from 2011 is the Bangkok series which captured the Chao Phraya, the city’s principal river. What’s unique about this picture is while at a glance, the image looks like a shimmering waterbody, on a closer look, you’ll be able to see its littered condition.
8. Olafur Eliasson
Olafur Eliasson is a Danish artist who received international recognition in the early 1990s for his unconventional sculptures and installations. He basically uses illusory tools and intentionally simple mechanics to create his signature one-of-a-kind illustrations. In 2003, he became a household name for his The Weather Project, exhibited in the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall. The installation consisted of an artificial sun completed with clouds devised by haze machines, transforming the space into its own weather system. The vision attracted viewings by over two million visitors.
After receiving immense appreciation for this artwork, Eliasson continued to design his work around the climate and global warming issues. Some of his recent pieces are Ice Watch, which focuses on raising awareness that we are running out of time. Additionally, Eliason launched the art design of Earth Perspectives, in 2020 to honour the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. He was appointed recently as a Goodwill Ambassador for climate action by the UN.
9. Marina DeBris
Undeniably, one of the most talented and thoughtful sustainability artists of our time— here’s presenting Marina DeBris. Her artwork focuses on recycling trash to raise awareness about animal cruelty, ocean and beach pollution. Creating “trashion” from washed-up waste salvaged from the beach, she designs fish tanks, decorative art and other artworks to highlight the disastrous levels of ocean pollution.
The artist has also used ocean garbage to create a stance on what the earth might look like from space. DeBris is also a social activist and frequently hosts fund-raisings for environmental organizations. She regularly partners with non-profits and schools to educate children about ocean pollution. In 2021, DeBris rescued nearly 300 face masks on beaches and utilized them in her displays. As a committed eco-artist, she is listed in the Women Environmental Artists Directory.
10. Bettina Werner
Italian-origin Bettina Werner is also known as the “Salt Queen,” for her unique technique of using colourized and richly textured salt crystals in her artwork. Her salt-based sculptures, paintings, installations and functional art design, like a salt sculpture table, a salt sculpture bed and even backgammon boards made of crystallized salt, are exhibited in museums and art galleries across Europe, Russia and the United States. You can easily spot Werner’s work in the Whitney Museum, the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, the Detroit Institute of Art, and the Las Vegas Art Museum, to name a few.
Werner founded The Salt Queen Foundation in New York in 2002. It is a non-profit educational art institute which aims to celebrate artists who use innovative techniques and unconventional materials. The institution is committed to supporting and protecting Werner’s distinctive textured artworks of the pigmented salt technique.
11. Ruth Wallen
Ruth Wallen is an accomplished interdisciplinary artist and writer whose work promotes ecological issues and social justice. With former experience as an environmental scientist, Wallen transitioned into an artist to explore various disciplinary boundaries and values that construct environmental policy and disciplines of ecological art. Definitely, one of the best sustainability artists, she creates interactive installations, nature walks, artist books and much more.
Wallen’s solo exhibitions can be seen at Franklin Furnace and CEPA in New York, New Langton Arts in San Francisco, and countless other venues across Southern California. One of her moving projects is, “Walking With Trees”, where she explores the biological changes taking place in the Californian woodlands as a result of urbanization, climate change, and more such environmental impacts.
12. Song Dong
Pioneering contemporary art, Song Dong is a key figure among sustainability artists whose work explores the vivid themes of personal and collective memory, self-expression, impermanence, and the crispness of human endeavours. The artist uses ordinary and easily accessible materials, like household objects, wooden frames of windows and doors, etc., to create artwork that highlights the fact that even a single person could bring change through minor efforts.
Song was honoured with the prestigious UNESCO/ASCHBERG Bursary Laureate Award in 2000 and received the Grand Award at the Gwangju Biennale in South Korea in 2006. The Chinese artist has put on numerous solo shows worldwide, including Projects 90, at the Museum of Modern Art in 2009, A Blot in the Landscape at Pace Beijing in 2010, and the list goes on.
13. Hiroyuki Nishimura
Japanese sculptor Hiroyuki Nishimura gives life to his vision by carving wood into unique shapes. Championing sustainability, the timbers used by the artist for furniture and architectural designs mainly consist of unused or leftover lumber. Through his contemporary art endeavour, Nishimura avoids waste by sculpting these useless logs into distinctive shapes. Hence, conveying a message on environmental awareness and conservation ethics.
Upon viewing his work, you can easily spot irregularities, cracks and splits in some of the pieces. These aberrations are celebrated as part of the sculpture itself, because the artist does not seek perfection, but actually pays more attention to the overall form. For almost 30 years, Nishimura has been working with Zouki, where wood from felled trees are sourced from Japan’s Shonan and Izu Peninsula.
14. Choi Jeong Hwa
Choi Jeong Hwa is a South Korean artist whose work shifts between the disciplines of visual art, graphic design, industrial design and architecture. The artist uses recycled materials such as moulded plastic, inflatable fabrics, unused shopping trolleys, real and fake food, and much more, to create everything from small sculptures to large-scale installations.
Choi says that his inspiration comes from day-to-day life. His artworks have the power to make the viewers ponder over the impact of mass production and consumerism in our current scenario. He not only uses recycled and non-biodegradable materials in his creations, but also contemplates over the fact that how nature is choking for not being left alone. His work, White Lotus, is a two-meter-high flower made of inflatable polystyrene, was displayed at the Venice Biennale in 2005.
15. Elena Paroucheva
Elena Paroucheva is a multimedia artist who has created everything from paintings and sculptures to installations and performances. Currently based in France, her most celebrated works are found within the energy development field. Therefore, CIGRE (International Council on Large Electric Systems) recognises her as an environmental artist. Ondine is one of the most appreciated works of Paroucheva. It is a beautiful copper installation shaped as a woman, that holds several wind turbines.
Another prominent project by the artists is— Source, which involved modifying giant electricity towers in Amnéville, France. These 34-meter-high transmission towers (or electricity pylons), supporting 225,000-volt lines, were adorned in an orange, blue and yellow steel structure. Paroucheva cheerfully quotes— “Journalists call it haute couture for haute tension.” The sustainability artist loves to showcase the harmony between industry and nature.
16. Marina Zurkow
Marina Zurkow is a multimedia artist who creates gallery installations, unconventional public projects and research-based films focusing on the complex relationship between human and nature’s intersections. Her subject matter fosters a deep-rooted connection in environmental concerns, and reflects on the relation between interspecies, or between humankind, other species, and planetary agents.
Zurkow’s findings are fixed on “corrupt problems” like invasive species, superfund sites, petroleum interdependence, and the heartbreaking sides of climate chaos and changing oceans. Her remarkable vision can be observed in the series “Crossing the Waters” (2006–2009), which is a collection of digital animation films inspired by the threat to address climate change. The same issues are also envisioned in the “Friends and Enemies” (2011-ongoing) sequence. It comprised of animations, prints (both digital and letterpress), and performances.
17. Subhankar Banerjee
Subhankar Banerjee is an Indian–born American artist, photographer, writer, conservationist, and public scholar. His work is centred around the two most consequential planetary crises of humankind’s history— Biological Annihilation and Climate Breakdown. While both concerns are separate phenomena, they’re very much entangled as each contributes in vital ways to the escalation of the other.
Banerjee’s talents got recognition through his work in the Arctic, the U.S.–Canada borderlands, the coastal temperate rainforests and the edge of the sea in the Pacific Northwest, etc. In 2001 Banerjee started the ground-breaking journey of year-round field photography in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The captivating pictures were published in the book Seasons of Life and Land and also exhibited at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History. Banerjee is also the founding director of both the UNM projects— Center for Environmental Arts and Humanities and the Species In Peril.
18. Mary Mattingly
Based in New York, Mary Mattingly is an interdisciplinary artist whose artwork explores themes of sustainability and climate change impact in a post-apocalyptic future. Through installations, photography, performance and sculptures, the artist’s work addresses future climate crises created while trying to make the urban environment a better place to live right now.
What’s remarkable about her work is that in her aspiring multi-media projects, Mattingly aims to do more than just issuing a warning about the aftermath of environmental neglect. She specifically offers solutions and architectural prototypes that can be built to ease our pursuit of a better life. Her work inspires hope that with an innovative approach, we can still prepare for a changing world without harming our relationship with nature. Waterpod (2009) is one of her famous works.
19. Diane Burko
Diane Burko is a painter, photographer, and climate activist whose work revolves around climate change and environmental activism. To draw inspiration, the artist travels to the most affected areas worldwide, such as the Arctic Circle, Antarctica, the Great Barrier Reef, etc. She has interacted and partnered with members of the scientific community, while producing a collection of visually compelling artwork that communicates the threats posed by climate change.
Burko’s work was displayed by Locks Gallery from 1976 to 2012. And from 2012 to 2019, she was showcased at Cindy Lisica Gallery, where she exhibited her 2016 solo exhibition, “Traces of Change.” Her work can be spotted in the collections of some iconic American art museum, such as The Art Institute Chicago, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Woodmere Art Museum, The Delaware Art Museum, and many such iconic places.
20. Tattfoo Tan
Tattfoo Tan is an artist whose artwork is a display of issues relating to ecology, sustainability and healthy living. Through his art practice, he tries to explore a direct, and effective way of various concerns related to humankind. The artist employs multiple forms of media and different platforms of presentation to encourage group participation between himself and an ‘audience’.
Tattfoo Tan believes that with this collaborative practice both our minds and bodies are engaged in actions that can transform art into a ritualized and shared experience. Keeping up with the spirit of sustainability, Tattfoo prefers to create projects that are conceptual in nature which is eveidet in various of his initiatives under the ‘triology’ – Nature Matching System, SOS (Sustainable Organic Stewardship) and New Earth.
Challenges Faced by Sustainability Artists
Visions are powerful, and when we see art with a strong message, it has the tendency to stay in our minds for a long time. However, while sustainability artists are trying their best to raise awareness on global warming issues, it can’t be denied that they face a range of challenges in their pursuit of creating environmentally conscious art. Some of the major problems they face are —
- Responsible sourcing of eco-friendly materials that are suitable for their artistic purposes and don’t harm the environment.
- The urgency to constantly innovate and improve their artistic techniques and utilize rescued materials to keep up with changing sustainability standards.
- A lack of awareness about sustainable art leads to a lack of appreciation and motivation by the global masses.
- Displaying some particular sustainable concepts requires a good amount of funding and support. Many rising sustainable artists can neither arrange the finance nor the manpower to do so.
- Since sustainable art is a niche, its marketability is quite targeted. Hence, not everyone shows interest in owning these artworks.
- The number of sustainability artists is quite low because many struggle to find recognition and support within the art industry, which primarily focuses on more traditional forms of art
To Wrap it Up…
Sustainability is a crucial aspect of our lives that cannot be ignored. And sustainability artists are making a significant contribution to educate everyone about sustainability issues through their art design. As the world faces critical environmental challenges, the role of sustainability artists has become more important than ever. With their unique vision and creative talent, they are making a positive impact on the world. And as conscious humans, it is our duty to support these creators.
