Bridging Art and Earth: A Conversation with Stacey Ravvero on Sustainability, Climate Change, and Spiritual Harmony
I have not felt cold in a while. Usually, when I wake up on a November/December/January morning, I feel a chill in my bones. This is the 28th of November, 2023. My clothes give evidence of the sweat-soaked dreams I had rolled around in the night before. I take off my clothes to have a bath. I switch on the shower and feel the water’s temperature, but the water coming out of the pipes is warm, too warm even for this animal. Yet this is almost the beginning of December, where the harmattan air should slap you with such stinging cold you refuse to take a bath for two days.
I sigh and step into the shower.
You know what climate change is. It’s the unexpected floods in dry seasons which erode the roads to your house, and kill the investments of farmers who planted according to the season. It’s the earthquakes and droughts, it’s the sun getting hotter due to the emission of fossil fuels that deplete the ozone layer.
Climate change, a phenomenon driven by human activities releasing greenhouse gases, poses severe threats globally. Rising temperatures, altered weather patterns, and environmental disruptions are evident outcomes (I mean, the polar ice caps are MELTING???)
The world needs to return to sustainable practices and find harmony with, and heal the earth. Policymakers, industries, and individuals need to come together to recognize the need for immediate collective and sustainable efforts to reduce emissions and protect the planet.
The ArtCave2000 spoke with Stacey Ravvero, a multidisciplinary artist and environmental activist who hails from Delta state in Nigeria. We explored her most recent work, Uné r’Ekpè (song of the soil), performed in partnership with Goethe-Institut, Lagos, Nigeria.
The exhibition featured a bassinet full of soil and flowers, a call to the humans of the world to see the baby the planet once was. It symbolizes the helplessness of the earth as we constantly plague it with fossil fuels, yet the soil still sings, if only we are patient enough to listen and turn our attention to it.
Coincidentally, Goethe, the host institute where Une r’Ekpe was displayed also featured a room called the Nest, where attendees could simulate the feeling of being a seed. It featured nature-like sounds of wind, water, and bird calls underneath a purplish blue sky. The Nest symbolizes growth and rebirth, an admonition that all is not yet lost, and a means for the public to experience such growth that they may be able to replicate in their lives.
We conversed with Stacey about her position on climate change, the usefulness of sustainability techniques, and how her religion influences her work.
Hi, Welcome to the Cave! Can you introduce yourself, please?
My name is Stacey Ejiroghene Okparavero (aka Stacey Ravvero). I am a multidisciplinary artist with a B.A. Fine Arts from the University of Lagos, a postgraduate diploma from the Institut d’Etudes Supérieures des Arts, Paris, and a Masters degree in History and Business of the Contemporary Art Market from the University of Warwick.
The ArtCave2000 was lucky to witness your exhibition on sustainability and climate change (Une r’Ekpè). How exactly did these concepts influence your art?
Climate change and sustainability aren’t just buzzwords to throw around, and it’s critical that we live mindfully concerning the planet. We see the effects of climate change every day, in the patterns of rainfall and change of seasons. We see it in the changing migration patterns of insects, birds, and animals. We see it in the depletion of natural resources as a result of soil aridity, and the effect of oil dredging across the world. We see it in the quality of the air we breathe in big cities, and how that affects us directly — eg. Asthma, bronchitis, and lung-related diseases.
I’ve learned so much from nature since I established a permaculture hub in Lagos called “That Farm Over There” in 2020. The pandemic gave us time to rethink our actions and consider new ways of being.
Consequently, the lessons of the earth are reflected in my current body of work, like The plant womb installation in ZKU Berlin 2022, and Une r’Ekpè (Song of the Soil) exhibition at Goethe-Institut Lagos. The entire body of work is environmental advocacy that confronts us with the effect of our negligence but more importantly, how we can do better. The focus is on the doing.
What sustainable practices do you think we can take as a global collective to reduce the effect of climate change?
Our relationship with agriculture and food. Through my artistic practice for the last 12 years, I have been advocating environmental awareness. Now, I’m teaching people who visit my current exhibition at the Goethe-Institut Lagos, how to propagate plants and transplant them.
These are simple skills that should be common knowledge. If we all contribute to growing more trees and planting more gardens, we will learn a plethora of important lessons and wisdom from the earth.
We would also curb food shortages if everyone grew a garden at home where they eat what they grow. There will be respect for the earth once we learn her ways — how to care for the soil, how to nurture the plants we grow, and how to minimize our carbon footprint. Which in turn gives us a better quality of life, good health, and peace of mind.
During Une r’Ekpè, you displayed an inclusive movement performance that seemed like it had symbolically religious attributes. Does religion influence your work in any way?
It influences my work in many ways because I believe the creator of the universe cannot be separated from the creation. Knowing this truth, I find ways to offer thanksgiving and praise to God, my Elohim through my work.
In the current exhibition, the performance I did drew from biblical passages on how we are called to care for the earth, and the references of parables using nature. These Psalms, Proverbs, and parables were inscribed on my skirt while I spun in a circle seeking the face of God, but more so offering my work as praise of the beauty that surrounds me in nature. This also draws references from Sufism, the whirling dervishes, and the wisdom of Rumi.
At the end of the performance, the audience joins the spinning circle and we hold each other and repeat a mantra about being connected to the earth and being one people, stronger and beautiful together.
I think humanity needs to see the similarities within religion and honour them, rather than fixate on whose religion is superior. We are all connected to God and that deep understanding transcends religion to a deeper understanding of spirituality and collective consciousness.
Stacey Ravvero’s most recent works include:
2023 — Group Show, Galerie Melbye-Konan, Positions Berlin Art Fair, Berlin Germany.
2023 — Uné r’Ekpè (song of the soil), Goethe-Institut, Lagos Nigeria.
2023 — The Secrets of the Soi(u)l, National Museum, Lagos Nigeria
