The Colour of Transformation
An international arts project expressing the zeitgeist of the ecological crisis by global majority pioneers.
The Colour of Transformation illuminates the experiences and activism of pioneering Global Majority women working in nature. Exploring alternative ways of understanding our relationship to the natural world and drawing inspiration from the metaphor of butterfly metamorphosis, the project invites the public on a journey of personal change, offering space and time for self-reflection in light of the ecological crisis.
Through movement, music and storytelling, The Colour of Transformation asks audiences to consider questions such as:
What role do we want to play in our collective response to the most pressing issue of our time?
Who/what is preventing radical reimaginings of how we relate to the natural world?
How do we unravel and release outdated human-nature narratives?
What does it feel like to take up space within sectors in which we are marginalised, and what do we need in order to feel nourished and supported on this journey?
Originating in the UK in 2022, the project expanded in 2023 to incorporate the experiences of women activists working in the Caribbean.
Photograph by Ewelina Ruminska, London 2022
The Colour of Transformation began life in 2022 as a documentary followed by an artist’s film incorporating spoken word poetry and dance. Both sister-films were shown during the UK’s Black History Month.
Interviews with seven pioneering Black women and women of colour were projected within a London community garden, where their stories illuminated the structures that marginalise Global Majority voices from participating in conversations regarding ecological breakdown. These women work across conservation, land justice, the outdoors and natural history - some of the least diverse sectors in the UK. By sharing their own personal journeys of transformation, they offered inspiring examples of systems change and grassroots leadership challenging stereotypes about who ‘belongs’ in nature and presenting expansive ways of thinking about activism and leadership.
The film was directed by Bryony Ella with an award-winning team of creatives and contributions from the public. It was first presented in the grounds of Meanwhile Gardens in London and has since been shown across the UK before debuting in the Caribbean as part of Trinidad’s COCO Dance Festival 2023.
The original project was funded by Arts Council England with partners Butterfly Conservation and the William Morris Gallery, with support from Action for Conservation, Patagonia, Meanwhile Gardens and the Wellcome Trust funded network ‘MedEnv: Intersections in Medical and Environmental Humanities’. The Trinidadian iteration of the project was supported by the British Council and included a new creative response conceived by Trinidadian artist A K U Z U R U.
A K U Z U R U photographed by Brendan Delzin, Trinidad 2023
Audience responses
