11.00 - 17.00

This full day, in-person event for Art, Photography and wider subject teachers’ will demonstrate how photography can be used in climate conversations, from documenting environmental disaster to showcasing activism and direct action. Focusing on the photographic practice, we will delve into the shifting landscapes of environmental photography, as well as how images calling for change can be produced within in the studio, as well as on location.

Toby Smith from Climate Visuals, the photography resource dedicated to positive and evidence-based climate photography, will introduce the event, followed by presentations by trainee teachers in secondary Art & Design and Religious Education at UCL. In "Art, design, worldviews and the Anthropocene," trainees established links between their subjects and explored ways in which we can support the challenges of teaching sustainability. UCL tutors, Associate Professor of Art & Design, Andy Ash, and Subject Lead for Religious Education, Alexis Stones, will chair a reflection on the process.  

Following this, climate-concerned photographers including Florence Goupil, Pato Hebert, Maxime Riché and Alicja Wróblewska shall present on their practices. These presentations can be accessed online for those who cannot join us on the day. 

Practical workshops will also be included, with lunch provided. 

Please note, this event is planned specifically for teachers and trainee teachers who are at primary and secondary school level. We encourage hearing more about your experience related to the theme of the environment during the discussion.

Biographies

Florence Goupil is a Peruvian photographer and National Geographic Explorer based in Peru. Her work focus in indigenous peoples rights, the environment and the Amazon nations living memory. Goupil’s work has been exhibited in Photoville and the Bronx Documentary Center, published in National Geographic, El País, Ojo-Público and other international media. Since, she has been awarded with the Pulitzer Center RJF and received an Honorable Mention from POY Latam as Photographer of the Year.

Pato Hebert is an artist, teacher and organizer. His art explores the aesthetics, ethics and poetics of interconnectedness. He works in photography, sculpture, installation, text, design and performance. His creative projects have been presented at Beton7 in Athens, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo in Quito, the Ballarat International Foto Biennale, the Songzhuang International Photo Biennale, and IHLIA LGBT Heritage in Amsterdam. He serves as Chair and teaches in the Department of Art & Public Policy at Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, where his students have twice nominated him for the David Payne-Carter Award for Teaching Excellence.  

Maxime Riché is a visual artist and photographer. His documentary work deals with our ability to adapt to the upheavals of our environment and the evolution of our living habits imposed by these new conditions. Invited to give a TEDx conference in Wageningen in 2018, he presented Climate Heroes (2010-2018) in which he documents a series of citizen solutions to mitigate our carbon emissions, exhibited at Biennale Photoclimat in Paris in September 2021. His latest work on megafires, Paradise, was nominated for the Leica Oskar Barnack Awards and Prix Pictet in 2021, as well as being awarded the French National Center for the Arts documentary photography grant.

Toby Smith is the Visuals and Media Programme Lead at Climate Visuals. He joined the charity with over 12 years experience as an award-winning environmental photographer who focuses on building innovative and global stories through collaboration and publication in leading editorial outlets. Toby graduated with a Masters in Photography from London College of Communication in 2008 after spending 2 years working across Africa utilising his bachelors degree in Zoology and Environmental Science, before joining the Climate Change awareness charity Climate Outreach.

Alicja Wróblewska is a visual artist and photographer. Her work is based on research and the use of interdisciplinary methods (sculpture, collage, photography). By using products of modern production she creates future organisms that could replace their natural equivalents. She studies the phenomenon of anthropopression and the effects, which the human exerts on the environment. She has published her works in The British Journal of Photography, European Photography,VQR, Press, and Contemporary Lynx. Alicja has exhibited in Poland, Finland, Germany, North Ireland, Italy, Belarus, Czechia, Slovakia, Austria, and others.