Greening Imperial: a forthcoming exhibition on sustainability

Glasgow 2021 - Designed by Colin Li, photo by Conzo Throb, artists were Ciaran Globel and Conzo Throb.

A photographic exhibition will be launched on Sherfield Walkway featuring photographs of murals painted as part of the Grantham Climate Art Prize.

The art prize is a biennial competition for young people aged 11 – 25 to draw attention to the climate and biodiversity crises and the need for urgent, positive action. 

The Grantham Climate Art Prize "is all about [acknowledging] the links between biodiversity and climate change. We cannot fix one without fixing the other.”- Dr Will Pearse, life scientist at Imperial's Grantham Institute. 

The competition has resulted in the creation of 12 murals across Great Britain so far. Beyond this, it has led to several exhibitions, including at the United Nations Climate Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, in two Natural History Museum Real World Science Network museums, and on billboards across London transport hubs.  

The Sherfield Walkway exhibition will feature photographs of eight murals designed by young people and painted by professional artists in 2021 to highlight UK biodiversity loss resulting from climate change, including:  

• A mural designed by a 14-year-old, painted in Glasgow close to the COP26 venue.  
• A mural painted at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham featuring a sustainable landscape bursting with plant life and pollinators.  
• A mural designed by Imperial student Julia Skulska depicting a seascape featuring carbon-absorbing sea kelp with rubbish being collected to reduce ocean pollution.  

About the 2025 competition 

The exhibition aims to inspire students to enter the 2025 Grantham Climate Art Prize with a chance to design a mural for Dalby Court, which is due to be brought to life with trees, blooms and planters as part of Imperial’s sustainability strategy, with the aim of boosting biodiversity and creating a greener environment, better for the physical and mental health of all who study, work and visit here.   

Students at Imperial and surrounding schools, colleges and universities will be invited to submit a design for a mural in landscape style (measuring 9.4m by 2m). Designs should reflect a hopeful vision of a sustainable future shaped by nature-based solutions and may also celebrate the green innovation that goes on at Imperial.  

The winning design will be selected by a panel including members of Imperial’s Property team, the Grantham Institute, the Head Gardener, the Blyth Gallery and the Artworks Group. Meanwhile, runner up designs will be exhibited on campus, including on water collection butts. 

Martin Siegert, Visiting Professor at the Grantham Institute, says: “Art has the potential to inspire minds and touch emotions in a way that science alone often finds challenging.”  

Linsey Wynton, Senior Outreach and Communications Officer from the Grantham Institute, says: “We hope the exhibition and mural will raise awareness of the climate crisis among those who pass by and inspire action to alleviate its worse effects, allowing us to live more sustainably. We are inviting young people to take part because it is their futures that will be most affected by climate change and their aspirations should be magnified.” 

Entering the 2025 competition 

To enter the 2025 art prize please upload a clear photograph of your landscape style design with no shadows as a JPEG, PNG or GIF less than 20MB via the Grantham Climate Art Prize webpage by 31 January 2025. Or you can email the photo to granthamartprize@imperial.ac.uk with your name, email address, date of birth, age, title of your artwork and a brief description of the artwork. Please send multiple pictures separately or by We Transfer.  

Designs can be drawn or painted with a range of material including collage, photo montage or by designed on a computer but not with AI. Further details about the art prize will be published on the Grantham Climate Art Prize webpage and on Imperial and Grantham Institute’s social media accounts marked #granthamclimateartprize.  

A further competition to design a mural at White City campus will be launched in 2025 and an exhibition of the 2023 art prize inspired by the Grantham Institute’s 9 things you can do about climate change is due to feature at the Great Exhibition Road Festival on 7 and 8 June 2025.