Art Highlights

Seeds of Change
“Seeds of Change” is a hand-embroidered artwork by Sarah (Juby Aleyas Koll), jointly conceptualised with climate scientist Roxy Mathew Koll. It was presented to Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, by Women Moving Millions as part of their 2025 Catalyst Award—honoring her lifelong work in climate justice and her leadership in the global initiative Project Dandelion. The central figure portrays a woman as the face of climate justice—those most burdened by a warming planet yet leading its renewal and resilience. Her flowing hair is embroidered with the Warming Stripes, using temperature data from 1850 to 2024, illustrating how the world has warmed over time and the weight women carry in this global struggle. The strands of her hair transform into the ocean, flora, and fauna, expressing the movement from ego to eco. The artwork celebrates women’s resilience and Mary Robinson’s role as a catalyst for change in a changing climate. From her hand, a dandelion releases its seeds, inspired by Mary Robinson’s Project Dandelion, symbolising hope and collective action spreading across borders.
Gone with the Heat
“Gone with the Heat”, an embroidered story of coral reef bleaching under marine heatwaves.Marine heatwaves, extremely warm waters in the ocean, strip off the colorful protective membrane of the corals, bleaching and killing them. As corals die, the marine biodiversity and fishes depending them also disappear, making our oceans an ecological desert. Artwork executed by the Kolls and exhibited @ the International Indian Ocean Science Conference 2024, Lombok, Indonesia. Hawksbill turtles are critically endangered sea turtles. They feed on sea sponge, kelp and sea grass. Marine heatwaves bleach the sponges, wither the kelp and grass — and the sea turtles disappear… The coral and the marine species in the artwork are from the Indian Ocean region and found in the coral triangle. The artwork is hand embroidery by Juby Aleyas Koll (Sarah) on canvas, along with water color, acrylic, beads, and sand from the Indian Ocean. Each coral and fish species are depicted with different hand embroidery stitches.

Sam Illingworth on our MJO research
Sam Illingworth recites his poem “Warming Clouds”, based on our MJO research which appeared in the journal Nature. Between synthetic, parallel lines drawn across artificially constructed maps, the clouds begin to form. Climbing upwards like giant anvils of cotton candy, a trick of the scattering light projecting apparitions across the skies. Oscillating between imagined landforms, these vessels of rain and ice drift tirelessly across tranquil seas and raging oceans. Taking residence across the continents, rising and falling with the unseen breath of their creator. Peripheral forces nip and pull at the creases of this translucent drapery, driving contrast that redefines the transience of their approach. A warming touch that contracts and expands without caution or reproach. Changing patterns reverberate across the cloudscape, as thunder shakes the firmament and drought stalks the land. Reflected dreams shimmer across their surface, the abstract shapes a portent of what is yet to come.
Sarah’s Hand Embroidery on our MJO research
Sarah’s Hand Embroidery stitches our MJO research, which appeared in the journal Nature, into an embroidery piece.