Loving Earth artwork goes to Westminster
'Around sixty panels are being exhibited at Portcullis House at the request of Lindsay Hoyle, MP and speaker of the House of Commons.'
The Quaker-initiated Loving Earth textile artwork project arrived in Westminster last week, in a bid to inspire parliamentarians about the pressing need for climate action.
On display in Portcullis House from 18 February to 17 March, MPs, peers and others with nearby offices have been invited to view the exhibition and reflect on their own response to loss and damage to our world. Friends are invited to encourage their MP to tweet a selfie in front of a panel and include a supportive comment.
Around sixty panels are being exhibited at Portcullis House at the request of Lindsay Hoyle, MP and speaker of the House of Commons, who was inspired by an exhibition of panels in his own constituency. Made by people across the UK, the artwork illustrates things they love threatened by environmental change.
Panels on display in Westminster include: the London skyline with trees in the foreground and grey skyscrapers on the horizon; polar bears; our planet from space; the mycelial web beneath our feet; flooded homes and churches; toxic air; insects; chimpanzees; and what Linda Murgatroyd, one of the founders of the project, described as ‘so many other beautiful, painful losses’.
‘The project aims to help people engage creatively and constructively with loss and environmental breakdown, without being overwhelmed,’ said Linda Murgatroyd. ‘It illustrates a variety of actions individuals are taking, and their concerns that much more is needed.’
The first Loving Earth panels went on display in 2019 and the project has gone on to have more than four hundred panels created, with exhibitions all over the UK and in Ireland, France, Slovenia and, later this year, the US. The exhibition at the Scottish Maritime Museum was lauded as one of the best cultural events in Scotland for COP26. The project was started by Quaker Arts Network, and also works in Uganda and Belize.
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