Last weekend, I was invited to speak to young artists and their families at the “We Are One” international art exhibition at Proverse Italia, M50 creative district, Shanghai. This event, supported by the UN and aligned to their sustainability goals, emphasized how art can spark awareness and drive real change. My speech centred around the role of art in tackling global issues like world hunger, the psychology behind motivation, and my latest creative venture —painting vintage watches.
I know what you’re thinking. This is a confusing and thematically incoherent thing to talk to a group of children who may well not speak any English. You’re probably right, but let me set out the main thrust of my speech so that at least some people can follow my logic.
The role of art in tackling global problems
Food insecurity (the technical name for not having access to enough nutrition to live properly) impacts around 2.4bn people.
When I first learnt that, I assumed it must be a result of there being too many human beings for the amount of food we can make.
Not so.
Every year we waste (throw away) enough food to feed 2bn people, and that doesn’t even include the amount of food that is consumed excessively.
Contrary to what you might think, the main cause of this waste isn’t children refusing to eat their vegetables at the table, it’s actually occurring all the way through the supply chain from farm to table, and it’s driven by some of the choices that people probably aren’t aware they are making. Most people reading this will be wealthy enough to shop at a grocery store where you will probably see some appealing looking fresh produce. Let’s use a carrot as an example.
If you walk into a store you’ll be able to choose your carrots from an array of similarly attractive carrots. Probably cleaned of soil and muck. You won’t see the ugly misshapen carrots that were discarded at the farm (because they don’t look like carrots) or the ones that were bashed up in transit from the farm to the warehouses and then to the grocery store. You also won’t see the unwanted and over ordered carrots that passed peak freshness and the store threw away.
I know that there will be some that are recycled (eg into carrot soup or dog food) but our food system attaches value to such concepts as appearance, which means if something doesn’t have that value it is prone to be wasted long before a picky child throws it on the floor.
If I was able to survey everyone in the world, I’m sure the vast majority would say that they would prefer poverty and hunger to be solved. But why isn’t it solved? I wouldn’t be surprised if more energy, money and time is devoted trying to colonise mars (where there definitely isn’t any food) than to solving these solvable problems.
I believe one of the biggest obstacles is awareness. I eat carrots but I have no idea of the waste involved in the carrot industry. Even if I do, I don’t know how I contribute to that waste, or what I could do differently to solve it. Further, I might not have the thought of hungry people at the top of my mind as I go about my daily business. I don’t know whether if I started buying ugly carrots it would help any hungry people or just create more profit for retail chains. It’s not easy, and every industry has its own challenge.
Judging by the confused looks on the faces of the children in the audience, they didn’t know much about the economics of carrots either.
This is where art comes in. Art allows for a conversation or the transfer of ideas which helps create awareness. It helps us create a link between great distances (physically or conceptually) and helps to shed light on something. It’s also a way to ask questions and provoke thought in a way that isn’t too preachy. This is inportant because on a topic like this people need to be engaged not lectured.
The psychology of motivation
In my HR job, one commonly quoted theory is Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
The theory holds that we are driven to satisfy certain needs and in order for the motivation to arise for the next level in the hierarchy, the needs of the one below need to be met. For example I’m not going to be driven to make friends (belongingness) if I am freezing (lack of physiological warmth) or I’m not going to be motivated to perform some creative task (esteem) if my boss is always watching me (lack of psychological safety).
The points I was making, to a now very confused group of children, was that people who are able to make and enjoy art most likely do not struggle to find enough to eat. In fact we probably take for granted that our next meal will be available, leaving us enough time to think about what we want to paint.
Vast numbers of people will struggle to get off the bottom rung, and to change that does require some assistance from everyone who enjoys the pursuit of higher needs. This in turn requires a motivation to change, which is why I was talking about art through the lens od being able to accomplish change and help others, which are towards the top end of the hierarchy.
Painting vintage watches
So finally onto the watch bit. I have painted 7 identical vintage Chinese watches which will be exhibited in Milan in October, in an exhibition supporting UNs sustainable goals.
They are all largely identical watches, which represents the commonalities between us (to create connection between people, behaviour and problems). The way we experience time is the same. We pick up scars. We break and need help from others to keep going. We experience change of ourselves and others. We all have the same physiological make up and the same needs for food and water. This is one thing that binds all humans no matter where or when we are.
As we move up the hierarchy of needs we can think less about self preservation and become more social and are able to develop forms of self expression, study or intellectual pursuits which go into what makes a culture. I chose 7 different cities and distinct aesthetic styles to show the divergence of culture linked to place. Here we are different and also the problems we may face vary, so each watch design makes some reference to those challenges which are a feature of the world we live in, for example the London watch is about order and chaos, the Cape Town watch is about civil rights etc.
I didn’t think the pre-adolescent audience was ready for me to start talking about the London riots in 2024 or Apartheid in South Africa; but if you want to read a little bit more of the thinking behind the watches, they’re on my website (www.mattanderson.online)
Summary
So to summarise all of this, the vintage watches are about sustainability, and symbolise connections between people, time and place. Solving problems like world is vital to our stability and survival as a species and it needs us to all play a part in resolving. That requires awareness though, and motivation to act and art is a great way to create that awareness.
I should mention; I did realise I have a relatively narrow spread of world locations. I chose places I knew reasonably well or worked well with a particular artistic theme rather than trying to be representative. Sorry South America, Australasia and the Arctic.
Finally, full transparency, I will be selling the watches; there are a lot of costs behind producing and displaying art and this helps to keep this hobby going. I have painted 7 studies to accompany them, which I am aiming to sell for charity so there is a direct impact on some of the issues I’ve addressed.
In my next talk I will be attending a session talking to the new borns at the Shanghai municipal neonatal clinic where I’ll be discussing 1930s German sci fi movies and string theory to explain why you shouldn’t be cruel to animals.
To understand more about zero hunger, check out the UN Sustainability Goals
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