How does art come into play in the climate crisis? Can we change the road we are on in climate change? We had a chat with Sofia Hadjisof, about her 'Artivism' movement and how artists can get involved in the fight against climate change.
A little backstory: Terra Movement was started in 2020 by Sofia who originally wanted to talk about climate change on a blog. Now, it's a movement that inspires and encourages artists across the world to use their chosen medium to demonstrate their thoughts and
Hey Sofia. Would you be able to start with your name and a brief intro on your movement?
Hi, my name is Sofia Hadjisof. I am from Greece and my project is called Terra Movement which is basically an organization developing which is using creativity, art, and design to help the planet.
What inspired you to start this movement?
Well, it was very gradual. So it started with me having a little side project of a little blog last year. I didn't take it very seriously but it was something that I wanted to do but then I discovered art and design for the first time in my life and I loved it; I loved creating designs and videos and all that.
So, I decided to combine that; my passion for the environment and my newfound passion for art and design. I thought it would be a nice combination. So that's what I did. I combined the two and I just started talking about environmental issues through my content, through my art, and videos. And yeah, I've trying to grow and improve, and hopefully the future we will have a real impact in this community.
What do you aim to achieve with this movement?
So, my aim is to create a platform, a community where like-minded people can come and connect with each other, to have different resources for people who want to become Artivists and learn how to do that. I'm just creating this community (that's the best way I can describe it) for people who are creatives, designers who want to help the planet and just don't know how or just want to have a bigger impact using their skills because right now the art and design industry doesn't have a big voice in the climate movement and that's what we want to change.
Who can be a part of this movement?
So obviously we are focusing on creatives, artists. But that can encompass many types of different disciplines including filmmaking, musicians. We are all creatives who join this movement. Obviously, people who don't have the creative skills can still join to see what we're doing, see how you can get involved in the projects and events. But yes, it's for everyone especially for those who have a creative skill and want to use it to create an impact for the planet.
Why specifically did you pick the name "Terra Movement"?
Well, 'terra' is a Latin word. It means 'Earth'. And 'movement', obviously we want to create a movement and that's how we decided to create this as 'Earth Movement'. It's just a name I came up with [laughs]... we wanted to create a movement and that's why we called it that. And we focus on the earth, protecting it, and that's why we called it that.
You mention the word 'artivism' on your website. How do you define what that means?
So, it's a combination of the words 'art' and 'activism'. So it's basically a way to be an activist and use your art and creativity to do that. So, it's a way of peaceful protesting per se. That people can speak out about what they believe or what they feel, and speak that message through their work because, obviously, we can use statistics, we can use so many things but the power that art has on a person, the way it communicates or the emotions it creates in someone is more powerful than telling someone the same thing. So 'Artivism' is a way for people to express what they believe in and what they want to change in our society in a creative way using their art.
How can people support the movement?
So, right now you can follow us on our social media platforms especially Instagram where we are sharing people's work. We want to share people's art and films. Everything. We use a hashtag called #terracreators and people can post through there and we will repost our favourite ones.
On our website, we share resources with people and we are going to add more in the coming weeks. People can look out for that… we encourage people to contact us if they have any collaboration ideas or anything like that. We want to connect people together to create important projects.
We also are going to create, by the end of the year, a group where people can contribute… and if people want to contribute we can say 'we need this and this, would you like to create that?' So that's our aim to do that in the next few months. You can write articles for our blog, you can join the directory. We have a directory where creatives who are speaking for the planet can join so people can find each other easily.
We have many challenges and initiatives, projects, campaigns, plans. So people can join in. Also to support you can donate money through our page or just share, spread the word, join in projects and campaigns. We have a lot of plans and ideas now for our future, the near future, so people have plenty of opportunities to join in. So keep an eye on our social media and website. And join the Terra Movement if you want as well.
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Thank you to Sofia for taking the time to tell us about Terra Movement and what the future looks like for the movement. If you are interested in following along or getting involved you can find these details below:
All images provided by Sofia
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