REWILD is the latest campaign from creative initiative Splash and Burn and Spanish artist ESCIF, a project curated by Lithuanian artist curated by Ernest Zacharevic and coordinated by Charlotte Pyatt run in association with the Sumatran Orangutan Society and the Orangutan Information Centre.
Inspired by the upcoming UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the project is a reflexion on the warning that we have just 12 years before climate change reaches a point that would trigger a global catastrophe.
The Rewind symbol is carved into a palm oil plantation in Sumatra, Indonesia, within a new forest restoration site covering 360 hectares on the borders of the Leuser Ecosystem, one of the most biodiverse places on earth.
“The idea of going back, of rewinding is an invitation to reconnect with ourselves; to recover awareness and respect for the earth, which is the ecosystem of which we are part”. ESCIF
The deforestation of the planet has reached incredible dimensions, not only because of the thousands of fires in the Amazonian rainforest the last weeks, but also an ongoing deforestation of among others, Sumatra’s rainforest. An area that has lost over 40 percent of its forest in the last 2 decades thanks to palm oil, paper pulp and rubber plantations, destroying a vital habitat for orangutans, tigers, rhinos, elephants and countless other species.
ESCIF’s work is a hopeful message symbolising that it is not too late to reclaim our fate and make meaningful change.
The intervention was proceeded by a number of small playful interventions by ESCIF reflecting on the relationship of the natural land and consumerism, and a short film documenting the process, announced at London’s Oxford Street a couple of weeks ago.
With the release of the project they hope to raise awareness and a pledge to reforest the reclaimed land they have been working to REWILD starting with last years intervention by the project’s curator Ernest Zacharevic. They have amassed incredible support in purchasing the land for restoration but funds are still needed to return the land to a thriving ecosystem.
To contribute to the restoration of Leuser, Text MORETREES to 70085 to donate £5, or go to moretrees.info to plant a tree and #rewildsumatra
Images courtesy of Splash and Burn.
Author: Fran
Founder and editor of Urbanite. Street Art lover who after the finishing her MA thesis on the Mexican and Norwegian muralist movement in the 1920-50s, developed a fascination for street art and graffiti that eventually led to collaborations with different art blogs, including the creation of this one.
