SKETCH FOR SURVIVAL

                                                              'Watching'

I am thrilled and honoured to have been chosen as a finalist in Sketch for Survival's 2022 Wildlife100 exhibition collection. The exhibitions and final auction of donated artworks is organised by conservation charity Explorer's Against Extinction to raise funds for worldwide wildlife conservation projects.

My artwork of a tiger is an original mixed media work combining woodcut and watercolour mediums. I chose to depict a tiger as their numbers in the wild are still declining. This is despite the fact that they are perhaps the most recognisable of endangered animals and there are many tiger conservation programmes. Their reduction in numbers is due to loss of habitat caused by many consequences of human over population, as well as illegal poaching for traditional medicines and the wildlife 'exotic pet' trade.

The title of my work 'Watching' refers to the steady watchful gaze of the tiger and aims to explore visually the relationships between captivity and freedom, It also alludes to the complex issues around us watching captive animals and the tragic irony of a growing captive breeding programme not for conservation but to supply the illegal wildlife trade.

All the artworks exhibited by Sketch for Survival 2022 will be for sale by online auction which will finish on November 20th 2022.