The Competition

Cape Farewell and the National Maritime Museum are running a nationwide competition for young people aged 7 - 16, encouraging investigation and reflection on environmental issues and the creation of an artistic response.

Digital artist Matt Clark artistic director of UVA (United Visual Artists) took part in Cape Farewell’s 2010 sailing expedition to Svalbard and Spitsbergen in the High Arctic. He encountered the inspiring beauty of the Arctic environment and reflected on the dramatic changes that have taken place in the Arctic as a result of our behaviour – exploiting the region’s resources and the impacts of our carbon emissions and consumption.

Working alongside scientists undertaking field research on the expedition (the effects of climate change/ocean temperature, salinity and acidification, marine biology) he tried to understand the complexity of climate change.

+ Visit Matt's expedition blog

How to Enter

High Arctic, the new digital exhibition at the National Maritime Museum (14 July 2011 - 8 Jan 2012) is his creative response to his experience of the Arctic, his personal narrative/expression, inviting us to reflect on the environment and the impact of our behaviour on the natural world.

This competition invites you to do the same. To investigate an environmental issue that concerns you, specifically relating to the sea, water, climate/weather - whether a local or global issue - and create a piece of art that communicates your concern for the issue and encourages people to think differently.

Your artwork can be a story, poem, piece of sculpture, painting, photograph, short film or animation. For full details, entry requirements and how to enter, visit the NMM website. The competition closes on 9 December 2011.

+ Competition website

Inspiration

For inspiration, click on the links above to see some of the creative responses made by other professional artists that have taken part in Cape Farewell’s expeditions. Each is their own personal story, their own creative response to an environmental issue that concerns them, inviting us to think differently about environmental issues and our impacts on the environment. All the artworks were rooted in science research and personal investigation.

You might also want to see how other young people have investigated climate issues and been inspired to create artistic responses to help communicate environmental issues that concern them. We have led several youth expeditions to the Arctic, just like the expedition Matt Clark went on, giving students the opportunity to undertake science research and stimulate their imagination. Perhaps you can work with your science/geography and art teachers to undertake a local expedition to find out more about climate changes in your area, to stimulate your creative response. Teachers might be interested in some of our learning resources.

+ Get inspired