Artivism in Southeast Asia:

Aims and Objectives

This project explores the power of "artivism" in driving environmental communication, education, and activism across Southeast Asia. In a region where biodiversity and carbon sink hotspots are under threat from rapid economic development and patronage politics, top-down conservation efforts often fall short. Creative resistance from civil society is urgently needed to challenge extractive, production-driven environmental harm.

Collaborating with Jakob van Klang, a Malaysia-based artist and curator, this project investigates how art captures and depicts environmental changes in Southeast Asia, navigating a heavily regulated civil space, and empowering creators and viewers to imagine desirable futures. We will explore the impact of art on fostering environmental awareness and action.

In this fellowship, we will:

• Conduct surveys and semi-structured interviews with environmental art exhibition-goers and artists
• Organise an in-person workshop between artists and civil society to identify mutual learning and collaborative pathways for effective and creative environmental communication, public education, and activism
• Organise a public-facing forum to share our research findings on the intersection of art, education, and activism.

In completing these activities, we aim to produce both academic and non-academic publications on the power of environmental art in Southeast Asia, and to foster deeper collaboration between scholars and artists to harness the transformative power of art to inspire collective action for a sustainable future.

If you’re an artist working in the environmental art space in Southeast Asia and would like to get in touch to collaborate on this or future projects, please fill out this Google form.

Project Outputs

Artivism in Action: Public Forum to Explore the Power of Environmental Art in Driving Change

Environmental Artivism takes central stage in Kuala Lumpur

BFM Podcast 'Artivism for Conservation'

https://www.bfm.my/content/podcast/artivism-for-conservation

Guests: Dr Thomas Smith, Associate Professor; Environmental Geography, Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics, Dr Felicia Liu, Lecturer in Sustainability, Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, Jakob van Klang, Curator; Multidisciplinary Artist, KL Sketch Nation & Art Rabbit