Page 75 - The Digital Cloth Issue 6
P. 75
‘Assets’ and ‘Looted’ were made in
response to artists Bob Osborne and
Carrie Reichardt collaborative art
project Cash is King – The Art of the
Defaced Banknote. My work was part of
Cash is King 2 – Money Talks, which was
exhibited at The Saatchi Gallery in
London in August 2019, and published in
a limited-edition book of the same name,
featuring original art on banknotes by
contemporary artists from around the
world.
I am a believer in People Power and that
we can all make a positive impact by
using it.
The Sumatran orangutan and tiger, as
well as other species of Indonesian
wildlife, are critically endangered due to
habitat loss, through deforestation for
palm oil plantations, agricultural
development and human settlement.
Their land is being looted and they are
being killed for commercial gain.
Orangutans were once found across Alison Carpenter-Hughes
Sumatra, but are now restricted to the
North of the island. Females only give
birth to one infant every eight to nine
years, so loss through unnatural causes
are devastating to the population. Fires
started deliberately have decimated huge
areas and killed many of the
slow-moving apes. Destruction of habitat
has also forced the tigers into settled
areas, which causes retaliation from
villagers when people or cattle are killed.
It is estimated that fewer than 400 People Power
Sumatran tigers now
survive. Both animals are vulnerable to
capture through illegal trade –
orangutans being kept as status symbols
or used for food and tigers poached for
the market in parts and products. The
orangutans and tigers are crucial to the
biodiversity of the island and these
often-illegal practices are unsustainable.