Wild Women of Wildbiyoo
The idea for Wildbiyoo materialised a handful of moons ago, over a cross-continental phone call in the midst of a growing, deafening roar of student-led climate protests whose reverberations were felt across the globe. Young people, motivated by the realisation that the powers that be were doing little to safeguard their healthy survival on the planet, decided to take matters into their own hands. In pockets across the world, youth leaders fighting for climate justice have inspired us to introspect harder on how we can do our bit at this crucial moment in the history of human beings, and have pushed us to think more deeply in terms of collective good and social justice.
As creative practitioners, each working on the sustainability beat for several years, we were interested in asking ourselves what role the arts would have in shaping the conversation around climate justice in a world fast changing under the pressures of anthropogenic stressors.
Through art, it is possible to inhabit various shades of nuance around a single broad topic. Art influences the way we think and feel, and is therefore an effective tool in moving people to action. With its power to reach across social divides and communicate the abstract and intangible, to create spaces of healing, celebration, introspection and togetherness that few others in modern society today allow, art is one of the most powerful tools we have in tackling the climate crisis.
And so, we were curious and thrilled to facilitate an environment suitable for these crucial conversations to emerge. For the climate movement to succeed in its mission, women and indigenous people need to be at the forefront of this fight to safeguard our future on this planet. We are therefore proud that Wildbiyoo is the pilot project and brainchild of four women, excited to be scattering seeds of change with our artist residency and Goa’s first zero waste festival!
Aishwarya Shah
Ash lives off a steady diet of cinematic adventures, invented rituals and playful games. As a writer-philosopher, she often finds herself intrigued by the intangible and the otherworldly. She has spent the last few years advancing sustainable travel in South Asia through her work at Gemtrack, volunteering at offgrid reforestation projects, and writing fantastical tales for children that metaphorically represent the climate crisis.
Powered by plants, this sunny optimist hopes to facilitate transformative gatherings like Wildbiyoo that enable people to entwine more deeply with the wilderness, within and without.
Saskia Gall
Saskia(@saskiagall) is a multidisciplinary fine artist from London, as well as the Wild Woman at the origin of project Wildbiyoo. An adventurous soul with a thirst for cultural discovery, Saskia has travelled the world on a mission to pursue a creative career at the intersection of sustainability, ecology and explorations of the human condition in its many forms. She runs inspiring art retreats and workshops concerned with reconnecting people with nature and their innate creativity through play, experimentation and mindfulness, creating safe and supportive spaces to reclaim one's inner wild self. . 🌱Over the last 3 years, home for her has been at The Tribe (@thetribegoa ) collective, where she worked her magic building an eco-village and regenerating a degraded scrub land. Before moving to Goa, she exhibited in London, New York and Miami, including the Royal Institute of Portrait Painters , and the British Academies in Florence and Rome, worked on public and private commissions and tutored at The Art Academy of London for 5 years. . ⛰Whether it’s working with her hands or crafting a visionary plan for creatives and sustainability practitioners to pave the way towards a better tomorrow, Saskia is the kind of person who does it all, never stops and is always the one you can count on when reality hits the fan. A mountain of a woman, a wild soul and inspiring human being, Saskia is the kind of person who will brighten up your day and make you believe that yes, you can do it if you believe it.
Maud Koenig O'Carroll
Maud is Wildbiyoo’s digital doctor and co-captain of the project. Aside from being a proud mother of kombucha and French-Irish wild child, she is passionate about projects with a purpose, especially those involving regenerative practices, circular economy and short-circuit «microgridding». With a background in policymaking and crisis management, she enjoys tackling big challenges and designing solution-based approaches to society's tongue-twisting issues. She spent 3 years co-directing the Tribe Project and is now fully dedicated to low-tech, grassroots initiatives addressing the climate crisis through reforestation, community resilience and system change.
Francesca Cotta
Fran is a writer and qualitative researcher, interested in exploring community-based solutions to the climate crisis. She has spent the past two years working in the sustainable travel sector, and believes in the transformative power of effective storytelling above all else. As of this year, she has been involved in the Indian leg of the global climate activist movement and is working closely with projects related to restoration, conservation, wildlife rescue and social justice. She has been programming events for Wilbiyoo and is also part of the content team.
Come and meet us at #wildbiyoo 2020! We're dying to #seeyouinthejungle . If you don't have tickets yet, hurry hurry and grab some below!
Written by Francesca Cotta
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