Project Description
We organised an exhibition to draw attention to the SDGs. It concerns us that these are not as well known as they should be having encountered people who are unaware of them. We know jewellery plays a role in communicating values and can play a role in promoting and sharing the SDGs. In our department we feature the SDGs and we know our graduates have left with an understanding of responsible practice. We put a call out to current and former students from our department for jewellery that embodies the value of an SDG. The exhibition Conscious Adornment featured the works received from 18 jewellers and the statements they made about the SDGs they had addressed.
Project Personnel and Beneficiaries
The 18 jewellers who exhibited benefited from the exhibition highlighting their focus on the SDGs. Current students benefited from meeting professional artists and learning about how they are shaping their practices in consideration of the SDGs. The exhibition promoted conversations and discussion between the exhibitors, invigilators and gallery visitors. The exhibition had a high visitation rate. It showed for two weeks which included Sustainability day on South Bank Campus. Social media coverage expanded the exposure of the works and the ideas being explored in the exhibition.
Outcomes to Date
We had 18 individuals exhibit new works that were addressing/communicating SDGs. We were addressing SDG4, SDG11 and SDG12 with the exhibition. The exhibitors chose the SDGs they addressed. This gave us an insight into the concerns the exhibitors are addressing and we were interested in the few that weren’t included (this may become the inspiration for a future project). These are the SDGs that were addressed by the exhibitors: SDG3, SDG5, SDG6, SDG7, SDG8, SDG10, SDG11, SDG12, SDG13, SDG14, SDG15 and SDG16.
Project Significance
In Jewellery & Small Objects we align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and align with Griffith University in seeing SDGs “as a reflection of our core values and are committed to investing in First Peoples, environmental sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and social justice for a better world—now and in the future.”
We highlighted the role jewellery plays in communicating values. We embed in our teaching the responsible and sustainable use of materials and the benefit of being part of supportive community. We teach skills that enable graduates to build their practices and the exhibition invited graduates to exhibit back on campus along with some current students. We are aware that our students benefit from meeting and forming connections with others in the field and the exhibition created an opportunity for them to do so. The nature of the works exhibited ensured the exhibition provoked conversations and engagement.