In two months, The World Reimagined will see trails of over 100 large globe structures in seven cities across the UK from 13 August – 31 October 2022. The sculptures will be created by artists to bring to life the reality and impact of the Transatlantic Trade in Enslaved Africans and invite the public to engage with the dialogue and actions of making racial justice a reality.

All artists will create globes responding to the themes ranging from ‘Mother Africa’ and ‘The Reality of Being Enslaved’ to ‘Still We Rise’ and ‘Expanding Soul’. Each globe will enable the public to experience, discover and be inspired by art as well as present the opportunity to be part of the discourse around racial justice and what it means to be British.

THE ARTISTS

Gayani Ariyaratne
Gayani lives in Birmingham and is an Artist, Vegan chef /ethical floral designer originally from Sri Lanka now living in the UK for 27 years. Her work is based on nature especially plants and flowers, and has been a Wild in Art artist since 2017 . She has been Glass painting for 26 years and is preparing to have an exhibition to celebrate 4000 pieces of glass art that from her collection. She uses art as therapy to help others (and herself) to overcome grief and improve mental health.

Pauline Bailey
As a visual artist and curator, Pauline Bailey has led numerous art projects centred around engagement, equality, and diversity working with a range of excluded and vulnerable groups to find creative expression, particularly to address issues around heritage, identity, sense of place, health and wellbeing. She is one of the core members of the Black Arts Forum and Handsworth Creative based in Birmingham and also co-founder of the Daughters of Africa Foundation in the Gambia. Pauline has curated and exhibited work nationally and internationally and is continuing to develop opportunities for emerging artists internationally alongside her individual visual arts practice. Pauline’s practice has always centred around identity and belonging, and she also has a strong interest in other themes such as ‘dereliction’, the natural environment found/recycled materials and objects of the everyday. Pauline’s individual art practice is generally informed by the multiple layers of diverse cultures and heritage of the African diaspora.
www.paulinebailey-arts.co.uk

Gabriel Choto
Gabriel’s artwork combines the twin disciplines of printmaking and painting, primarily in oil on paper. Through his singular technique, Choto seeks new pathways into the painted image by taking cues from the surface quality produced by the printmaking process. His evolving, experimental practice involves layering painted areas of naturalism over the delicate compositional architecture of etching, resulting in paintings where physical presence and absence imply a metaphoric liminal state. Sensitive and intimate, these images include close family members, depicting quiet moments of contemplation or affectionate domestic scenes taken from old photographs, progressing in to self portraits where through constructed situations the artist examines his own identity. Choto’s intimate paintings draw on themes of home, pride, identity and diaspora.

Create Not Destroy
Based in  London and the West Midlands with history steeped in early London graffiti art culture and graphic design. Create Not Destroy specialises in Videography, Photography, Mural Art and Design. www.createnotdestroy.com

Tamika Galanis
Tamika is a documentarian and multimedia visual artist. A Bahamian native, Tamika’s work examines the complexities of living in a place shrouded in tourism’s ideal during the age of climate concerns. Emphasising the importance of Bahamian cultural identity for cultural preservation, Tamika documents aspects of Bahamian life not curated for tourist consumption to intervene in the historical archive. This work counters the widely held paradisiacal view of the Caribbean, the origins of which arose post-emancipation through a controlled, systematic visual framing and commodification of the tropics.

Kassessa Gandara
KassessA is a visual self-taught artist from Angola. From an early age, he was interested in art and developed a great passion for creating plays, toys and art crafts. He creates different concepts and translates them into different artistic expressions whether it’s through live events, stages and exhibitions or though printed digital, sculpture and painted mediums. He enjoys working with different materials and he expresses himself through his art, highlighting and bringing awareness to different societal issues and the people they affect.

Donna Newman
Donna Newman is the Artist behind Eden-designs Murals. A freelance artist based in the Midlands, she has been working as a professional muralist and painter for over 15 years. Donna responds to clients with creativity and flair producing original, playful designs in a wide variety of subjects. Working predominantly as a commissioned artist within school settings, she seeks to inspire young people by transforming their learning environments with her vibrant artwork. Her unique and innovative designs always seek to educate through their creative interpretation of the curriculum and she often works directly with School groups to create bespoke artwork through collaborative children’s art workshops. A self-proclaimed addict of public art trails, Donna has worked closely with Wild in Art on over 50 sculpture commissions.
www.eden-designs.co.uk

Jay Percy
For Jay, art is a primal practice that connects us to Ancestral Strength, Sacred Healing and the Divine Cosmos. Growing up in East London, Jay was surrounded by a multicultural environment, and a close proximity to Epping Forest. From her time spent in Forests and taking trips to the beaches of her Ancestral home Antigua, Jay possesses a long-lasting love for divine nature. This theme is present throughout her artwork, where she makes romantic references to water and flora. An Obeahwoman and Spiritworker, Afro-Caribbean Cosmologies lie at the forefront of Jay Percy’s psyche and art. Themes include African Diaporic loss of Indigenous Spirituality in addition to reminders of the strength we can all find by reconnecting with the Animist practices respective to Ancestral homelands, prior to Colonisation. Jay works with acrylics and hand sews cowries and crystals directly onto canvas. She combines her love of highly saturated colours and royal golds with African Orisha worship, psychedelic print, and fundamental belief in the right to explore one’s own consciousness.

Jess Perrin
Jessica is an illustrator and designer living and working in Birmingham. Recently completing her Master’s degree in Visual Communication, Jessica loves to create both digital and traditional work with a strong narrative. Her love for character creation can be seen throughout her work. Jessica has painted 30 sculptures for Wild in Art as well as working across a variety of different industries, including illustrating work for children’s media.