"My passion for all things wild imbues me with the motivation to produce concise, relatable mixed-media artworks that empower the people who encounter them. My images are rich in educational content yet conceptual in execution and advance conservation initiatives across the world. Art serves as my primary medium for activism. I create because it is the oldest form of communication, and I use post-consumer waste, the ubiquitous raw material of the 21st century, to narrate the stories of the Anthropocene." The evening’s presentation will pertain to efforts to raise awareness about conservation, waste management and renewable energies through creative media.
PRODUCER: Asher Jay
Asher Jay is an artist, designer, speaker, activist, writer and conservationist. She is a staunch supporter of animal rights, wildlife conservation, and sustainable development, and she uses all her creative faculties to spark engaging visual discourses with audiences across the globe about contemporary ecological and humanitarian concerns. She is the founder of her very own country, The United Flotsam of Garbagea (http://www.garbagea.com), and she makes public appearances as Garbagea’s Dump Dictator for Life and Ill-Will Ambassador to educate audiences of various age groups about the cultural mores and civic obligations embraced by citizens of her plastic provinces. Additionally, Jay produces works for fundraisers under the EnAct (Environmental Activism) banner. She also directed, illustrated and produced an animated short, Transparent Sea (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-vibgPdct8), which was awarded “Honorable Mention” at the Blue Film Festival in Monterey. The film has since been amended to include hard facts about plastic consumption for 5 Gyres, who intend to use it as their Ban the Bag PSA.
Her most recent undertaking was a collaborative, global, educational art installation,Message in a Bottle, which was launched on June 8th 2012 (World Ocean’s Day) by Sea Speak Sphere (http://www.seaspeaksphere.com), a unified visual platform that Jay developed to foster creative dialogues about marine conservation. It is presently on display at the SAG Harbor Whaling Museum, and was at the American Museum of Natural History's Milstein Hall earlier.
Jay’s work (http://www.asherjay.com) and interviews have appeared on Time Out NY, Mission Blue, ScienceLine, Scientific American, See 7 Magazine, Mother Nature Network, Eco Chick, ABC News Local, Green Upgrader, and on several NGO’s blog feeds (5 Gyres, Thinking Animals, GWC, USNC UN Women, etc.).