Image by WaterAid/Oliver Dixon
Last week WaterAid, a charity that works to provide clean water and decent toilets in several deprived parts of South Asia, Africa and South America as well as pushes the policy makers to change laws, held Art of Change, a secret auction in partnership with British Art Fair. It featured climate-themed works by established and emerging British artists to highlight how the climate crisis is affecting the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Held at London’s Saatchi Gallery during British Art Fair, this stunning climate themed collection included artists from Damien Hirst to Boy George, auctioned to raise vital funds for WaterAid.
The secret – none of the artworks were labelled so they offered the chance for people to use their artist instinct to make a purchase of a lifetime.
Launched at a special preview event at London’s Saatchi Gallery on 29 September and held for the duration of British Art Fair, the art in the auction was kept anonymous.
The works by 19 artists included a Ben Okri & Rosemary Clunie collaboration, and pieces by Boy George, Carolyn Trant, Carrie Reichardt, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Giles Deacon, Haseebah Ali, Henry Ward, Heywood & Condie, Jessica Albarn, Jonathan Barnes, Julian Wild, Nettie Wakefield, Pure Evil, Rankin, Rowena Easton, Sir Peter Blake and The Connor Brothers.
We can now reveal which artists created which pieces.
The collection set to raise awareness of the devastating impact of climate change on the world’s most vulnerable communities’ access to clean water.
One in ten people worldwide do not have clean water close to home. With extreme weather causing more droughts and floods, it’s becoming even harder for the most vulnerable communities to access clean water, which is affecting women and girls the most as the burden of collecting water for the family often falls upon them.
The charity thanked all the artists, who kindly donated between 50% to 100% of their sales to WaterAid, and to Hidden Gallery who donated four special pieces, helping to bring clean water to many around the world.
