Earth Hour art

WORDS Claire Jowell

Earth Hour, happening in South Africa at 8.30pm on Saturday 23 March, is when the globe goes dark as lights are switched off in a symbolic gesture to pledge our commitment to doing something positive for the planet. Make sure you have something planned for the planet.

The World Wide Fund for Nature in South Africa (WWF-SA) has launched a public artwork campaign to raise awareness for the world’s largest global mass action for the environment. Entailing murals in Johannesburg and Cape Town by acclaimed muralist Freddy Sam, aka Ricky Lee Gordon, the artworks are inspired by the WWF theme #WeAreAllConnected, and stand to visually highlight humankind’s dependence and connection to the natural world. 

The first mural was revealed on Tuesday 12 March at the trendy Maboneng Precinct in Johannesburg, and is the final product of a workshop held the previous week, where local residents were asked to illustrate their interpretations of the concept #WeAreAllConnected.

As with the Maboneng mural, a workshop was held at the Woodstock Foundry in Cape Town on Saturday 16 March where community members could express their designs on paper to give Ricky Lee some ideas for the public artwork. On the night of Earth hour, the Cape Town #WeAreConnected mural will be revealed at a special event in Woodstock. 

Make sure you contribute to raising awareness. What will you do for Earth Hour? www.facebook.com/WWFSA.