The Decade of Change collection comprises 23 award-winning pieces that capture the defining issue of our time: the climate crisis
Decade of Change is an annual photography award and exhibition curated by leaders in art, science, activism and beyond. This week, ART3.io dropped 23 photographs by the award winners, each offering a unique take on the defining issue of our time: the climate crisis.
The NFTs are minted on Polygon, giving the process up to a 99 percent reduction in carbon emissions. The works are on sale as unique NFT editions of ten, with exclusive unlockable content for collectors. Ten percent of all primary sales will be donated to the Eden Reforestation Project, equating to at least 200 trees planted for each NFT sold.
Spanning humankind to wildlife, and cityscapes to ecosystems, the Decade of Change collection shines a light on the strength and fragility of the natural world. It examines global warming’s indirect impacts on communities and everyday people, and humanity’s efforts to turn things around. From distinguished photographers including Nina Röder, Yuyang Liu, Lena C Emery and Hermann Bredehorst, each work is a snapshot of a pivotal moment in our planet’s history.
Here, we chat to six artists from the collection about the work they’re selling.
Yuyang Liu
Based in Chengdu, China, Yuyang Liu covers a broad range of documentary stories, from daily life in North Korea to the transformation of the energy industry in Shanxi, China. His work has been featured in publications such as TIME magazine, The New York Times, and The Washington Post, and he has worked with organisations including UNICEF, Greenpeace, WWF and Save the Children.
Liu’s image depicts two men fishing on a pond in Xian Village, in the center of Guangzhou city, China. This village epitomises some of the problems that have emerged with China’s rapid urbanisation. For more than seven years, there has been conflict between locals and real estate developers due to unjust compensation and corruption among the city’s leaders.
“Urbanisation is connected with climate change,” says Liu. “It’s interesting to see a huge pond in a village like this… If climate change is still happening, the pond will grow larger and larger. Human beings are isolated on a tiny boat, and now no one can save us but ourselves.”
Yuyang Liu’s work is available to buy here.
Jacob Dykes
Jacob Dykes is an environmental photographer and staff writer at Geographical Magazine, the official publication of the Royal Geographical Society. His image is a portrait of a park ranger, 19-year-old Neil Sutherland, at Alladale Wilderness Reserve in the Scottish Highlands. The area was once covered by the Great Forest of Caledonia: a lost wilderness once home to wolves, bears and lynx. The estate was purchased in 2003 by conservationist and philanthropist, who hopes to recreate a wooded landscape and reintroduce native animals including predators such as the Scottish wildcat and the wolf.
Through this sale, Dyke is hoping to raise awareness and drive engagement for climate issues. “[The NFT] market is rapidly emerging. It will continue to emerge whether the climate-conscious participate or not,” he reflects. “I am excited to have a chance to financially contribute to environmental restoration efforts that I am passionate about.”
Jacob Dykes’ work is available to buy here.
Nina Röder
Berlin-based artist Nina Röder uses theatre and performance to expose hidden narratives. Her photographs have been shown at international festivals and exhibitions, such as the GoaPhoto Festival in India, the European Month of Photography in Berlin and the Format Festival in Derby.
In her Decade of Change image, made in Iceland, Röder covers herself in algae sourced from the sea. Abstract and ethereal, the self-portrait is a reference to how “our existence and the existence of all other organisms living in water depend on algae”.
Nina Röder’s work is available to buy here.
Patrizia Dottori
Based between Rome and Buenos Aires, Patrizia Dottori describes her style of photography as “artistic reportage”. This photograph was taken in the Perito Moreno Glaciers in the Los Glaciares National Park in southwest Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. Dottori used the negative of the photograph as a way to research the “opposite view of reality”.
“The cracks of the glaciers become the cracks of a volcano; the expanses of water become red-hot lands,” she says. Rather than providing a solution to the environmental problem, Dottori creates a juxtaposition of the original landscape, with the intention to encourage viewers to help “support a scientific solution.”
Patrizia Dottori’s work is available to buy here.
Lorna MacKay
Svalbard is a remote Norwegian archipelago, approximately halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole. It is home to the Global Seed Vault – sometimes referred to as the ‘Doomsday Vault’ – which houses over one million seed samples from all over the world. They are stored in case of large-scale natural or human-made disasters.
When Lorna MacKay visited Svalbard, she didn’t have a narrative in mind. She intuitively explored the area by foot, talking to residents in the main settlements. “When I came across the Global Seed Vault, it was vulnerable, not as I had seen it in photographs,” she says. The vault was undergoing emergency repairs due to melting permafrost; a direct result of climate change. “The poignancy of this powerful construction having to protect itself from one of the very threats it is safeguarding against struck me as a loud warning.”
Lorna MacKay’s work is available to buy here.
Natalia Poniatowska
Natalia Poniatowska’s image, titled Conservation Status: Vulnerable, was captured at Copenhagen Zoo. It is part of a project called Humannature, completed in 2019. Through images created in different places and environments, it comments on our relationship with the world, both natural and man-made.
“[The project] does not deliver an answer or points towards a certain issue, but rather stays ambiguous in its outlook and leaves the interpretation to the spectator,” says Poniatowska. “With my works I’m interested in the connection between us, humans, and the nature that surrounds us.”
Natalia Poniatowska’s work is available to buy here.