Climate Change Advocacy Artwork Unveiled in Cape Town

An exceptional artwork has been unveiled in Cape Town ahead of the COP28 climate meeting in Dubai next month. The artwork highlights the existential threat climate change poses to human life – particularly for rural people.

The enormous embroidered 6 metre x 2 metre artwork is the handiwork of 43 artists, mainly women. They live in the vicinity of the tiny coastal town of Hamburg close to the mouth of the Keiskamma River in the Eastern Cape. The artwork has been named Umlibo in reference to the sprawling pumpkin vine – a symbol of the need to unite and spread the word about the climate crisis.

With funding from the government of Flanders, WWF South Africa commissioned the artwork as part of a community-based project focusing on alternative livelihoods and marine ecosystems.