Karlie Hayes
2021-22 Zero Waste Ambassador
Sustainability wasn’t invented by the coining of the term “sustainable.” It means different things to different people, cultures, and communities: each has distinct sustainable traditions, and many groups have endured and shown resilience towards environmental injustices. And since Euro-centric and white perspectives often dominate the conversation around sustainability, it is essential to showcase how sustainability manifests across cultures.
Inspired by this, Zero Waste UCLA and the Carbon Neutrality Initiative partnered to highlight these different perspectives. From April 25 – 29 in Kerckhoff Art Gallery, the Sustainability in Cultures Art Gallery featured art from the UCLA community in a variety of physical and non-physical mediums. Mediums ranged from clothing to paintings, and subject matter ranged from Los Angeles native plants to de-centering white male environmentalists, showcasing the intersectionality of sustainability across different communities.
In addition to the general art gallery, which was open to the public throughout the week, the Sustainability in Cultures Art Gallery hosted an opening night event on April 26. Each artist spoke about the inspiration and meaning of their work, and later that evening, musicians performed during the open mic session.
Following is a list of the artists and their work.
- Urban Weeds meet Sustainable Fashion: Tracing Los Angeles’ Global Horticultural History through Botanical Adornments by Amber R Sackett
- Age, the New Rage by Bernice Wang
- Lens at Evening by Alexandra Roosnovo
- Decommissioned to DRMO by Chaunti Hatchett and Jacob Ursua
- Choices by Raluca Mocanu
- A new era by Nancy Nan
- What He Meant to Say by Cheryl Ma
- Ocean Guide by Isabel Dawson
- Art by Sustainability Action Research Students
To learn more about the art gallery and the wonderful work by these artists, we recommend visiting our website, you can see pictures of the art, descriptions of the art pieces, and background information about the artists.
Recognizing a variety of perspectives is an important part of sustainability. UCLA Zero Waste aims to host this art gallery annually, so keep an eye out for future calls for submissions or information about the 2023 art gallery. In the meantime, feel free to check out this year’s art gallery website. And in a broader context, feel free to learn about how different backgrounds and cultures give people a myriad of perspectives on why sustainability is important, and how to incorporate it into our lives.