“120 minutes a week in nature”

A Blend of Art and Poetry

My name is Christian Carmello Fabri. I am the curator and organizer of this exhibition; I am a student in the MBA in Arts & Cultural Management.

Nature has always fascinated me with its beauty, its wonders, its hidden and obvious benefits. Unfortunately, there is little serious decision-making work for its preservation, combined with minimal public awareness of the importance of environmental sustainability.

The exhibition title, "120 minutes a week in nature," was inspired by scientific research that revealed a strong association between spending this amount of time in nature each week and people’s mental and physical well-being. The exhibition presents five emerging artists who examine our relationship with nature from different angles, using different media and techniques. They share a special bond and commitment to nature, as well as concern for the repercussions of human activity on our natural world. The works they exhibit are a call to make ecological awareness of the preciousness of our Mother Nature part of the collective consciousness.

Through this exhibition, I wanted to offer visitors a space to rethink our relationship with nature, its various benefits, its preciousness as the source of all life and of our fundamental human rights. I hope it has prompted greater awareness and discussion of our interconnection with nature, the need to engage with it, and to recognize our role and duty in preserving it.

In the face of growing threats to our natural world, largely resulting from human activity, and growing concern for environmental sustainability, this exhibition was intended as a humble contribution to the ongoing efforts of artists around the world to raise awareness of the beauty of nature, its benefits, and the urgent need to protect it. By offering the viewer a sensory experience and engagement, this exhibition presented itself as an invitation to the public to rethink their relationship with nature and their behavior toward it.

This exhibition presented the works of five artists whose work reflects a commitment to sustainable development and the role of art in achieving it. Inspired by nature and/or by the threats to it, they use different art forms and media to express their vision and appreciation of nature, their concern for it, and the messages they want to convey. The works exhibited include photographs, plant-based and natural sculptural installations, as well as textiles and jewelry, "wearable sculpture." Their works address the questions of nature’s resilience and reaction to human activity and control, of the interweaving and interdependence between nature and humankind, of the beauty of nature, of forest protection, and of marine life. By depicting the permanent confluence of the arts with poetry, philosophy, and science in the service of the natural world and its inhabitants, and by arousing viewers' interest, this exhibition echoed international calls for the preservation and protection of our natural world, notably those set out in the often-forgotten World Charter for Nature.

Artists:

Ms. Estelle Chretien

Ms. Morgane Porcheron

Mr. Emeric Chantier

Ms. Silvana Mc Nulty

Ms. Cecilia Martinez Amanzi