Inspirational Evening in London

I’ve just returned for an amazing private viewing and auction evening in London as the Green Party unveiled its first ever large scale art exhibition at the Hoxton Arches gallery in London. It featured works donated by 50 green-minded artists ranging from household names in contemporary art to exciting up and coming street artists and everything in between.

Hoxton Arches is set within a sensitively converted railway arch, a hidden gem nestled in the heart of London’s exciting East End.

The artists involved selected works that come under the banner of ‘Green Voices’, whether that speaks about social justice issues, depictions of the surprising side of nature, a reflection of the current political climate or a personal green-tinged expression or observations.

The exhibition looked amazing and is guaranteed to surprise, delight and provoke alot of thoughts. Its open to the public until the 24th October and is free to get in with a suggested donation £5 though to help raise funds for the Green party and its campaigns.

I’ve always got more inspiration from art than looking at photographs, so it was wonderful to see so many pieces of art on show.  I found myself just staring at them all working out what it was and what was behind the picture and the artists mindset throughout the evening.

The event was opening by the joint leaders of the Green party, Jonathan Bartley and Caroline Lucas who both gave moving speeches and thanked everyone for turning up and their support. It was then onto the live auction which raised many thousands of pounds on the night that will help the Green party’s campaigns.

“Eye contact” my orangutan image raised over £400 in the auction and the buyer was there and overwhelmed by the image. The orangutans voice, her story and what is happening in Sumatra was told to all those that attended this VIP evening. It’s important to me to do what I can to help these great apes, below is the image and some information on this moving photograph.

“We are shaped by what we have seen”

Almost six years old , this tiny cage had been her home for most of that time after being taken from her mum and sold into the pet trade. I joined the rescue team from OIC in Sumatra and we went to rescue her early one morning last year. She was being held by a mafia boss, an ex warlord from Aceh, who threatened the rescue team once we arrived. After lots of shouting we had to leave her behind. A few weeks later they returned with more police and they finally rescued her. She is now on the road to the wild fingers crossed. The man was shouting at the team to leave his grounds I didn’t want to leave in the end they had to shout me out as I wasn’t leaving without her. I turned around to see this mafia man and looked straight through him to show him I wasn’t scared of his threats. This image was one of the last photographs I took before being asked to leave. Sitting on the ground in her own urine it was almost impossible for me to leave. 

The full story about this Sumatran orangutan can be read on a previous blog post I wrote here. Lots of people and artists turned up and it was great too mingle and explain what the story was to my work, and the image on show. The star of the show was this handsome male Whippet though who turned up with his owner to show his support for the event, often seen hanging around my orangutan image, wonder if he sensed her story I thought.

It was also very fascinating listening to the many other views regarding art and how each person see’s differently than each other. I had a great time and thank you to everyone from the Green Party for the invite.

It was a busy night in London for wildlife with the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2016 evening and the full winners revealed at the wonderful Natural History Museum. The following two images of mine from Sumatra on the frontline with the rescue team from Orangutan Information Centre made the final in the category –

Wildlife Photojournalist: Single Image –

“Investigating the relationship between humans and the natural world. Images can be challenging, uplifting, provocative or revelatory, and should illustrate how our attitudes, decisions and actions impact the natural world.” – WPOTY

The judges chose this image in that category as their winner. You can see all the winners and images that will form part of the display on this link.

I had a great time in London, thank you to everyone from the Green Party for the invite and all the very best with the exhibition. You can see times and the location of the exhibition on the above image, many thanks.