Design Storytelling

Lucy + Jorge Orta’s Amazonia show is quite breathtakingly gorgeous. I was lucky enough to be invited to the Frieze breakfast at The Natural History Museum this morning to celebrate the Orta’s work. It was wonderfully revitalising way to start the day.

The exhibition coincides with the International Year of Biodiversity and documents the Ortas’ expedition to the Peruvian Amazon in all its vibrant multicoloured glory. This multimedia exhibition (sculptures, photography, ceramics, film, drawings) is a positive celebration of the beauty of the Amazon rainforest and a stark reminder of what we stand to lose in this age of the 6th mass extinction.

There were some powerful quotes dotted around the walls of the exhibition - this was one of my favourites:

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with live & respect.” Aldo Leopoldo, forester & environmentalist (1886-1948)

There were also some beautiful posters that the Orta’s are giving away for free, but in doing so ask for a donation to the ongoing conservation of a hectare of Amazon rainforest they documented in their photographs. Rather though provokingly they ask: “What price would you pay for Amazonia?”