March 2, 2026It’s Not Easy Being Green: How British and Brazilian Students See Climate Change Differently
With each season of The Gallery, Artichoke aims to nurture artists at all levels. Our Learning & Participation team has been working on a cultural exchange with British and Brazilian secondary schools to design artworks that’ll be displayed in both countries in March 2026.
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The collaborative project brought together 60 students from four schools across two continents. We engaged secondary students from schools in London, Greig City Academy and St Saviour’s & St Olave’s School and in Rio de Janeiro, Colégio Notre Dame Ipanema and Colégio Estadual Ignácio Azevedo do Amaral.
Working in partnership with the British Council Brazil and Instituto Guimarães Rosa, this cross-continental initiative demonstrates how context fundamentally shapes activism and why the same environmental message can look entirely different depending on where you are standing.
One Theme, Two Perspectives
The students worked with local artists, Marcela Cantuária and Annie Frost Nicholson, to explore Season 5’s theme It’s Not Easy Being Green through their own lived experiences.
In the UK, artist Annie Frost Nicholson guided students from London schools through personal reflection and creative exploration. The British students approached the theme through a distinctly consumerist lens, shining a light on patterns of consumption, lifestyle choices and the purchasing decisions that define modern Western society.
For young people in London, environmental concern often translates into questions about what we buy and the systems that encourage endless acquisition. Their artworks challenge fast fashion, question throwaway culture and interrogate the relationship between desire and environmental impact.
“We were thinking about the idea of fast fashion and how all this clothing, all this rubbish that people are throwing out is going to stay there for centuries”
Across the Atlantic, Brazilian artist Marcela Cantuária facilitated workshops with students in Rio de Janeiro, guiding them through their own creative process. The Brazilian students’ response connected deeply with their cultural identity and relationship to the natural world.
Whilst they share the same anxiety about climate change as their UK counterparts, the environment is intimately tied to folklore, tradition and daily life. Their artworks reflect this personal connection, exploring how environmental damage affects ecosystems as well as cultural heritage and community wellbeing.
Understanding Global Perspectives
Beth King, Artichoke’s Head of Learning & Participation, reflected on what this international collaboration revealed:
“Working with the young people on this project has been a wonderfully eye-opening experience. The students from the UK and Brazil react with the same emotions: anger, fear and grief. However, the way they connect to the climate crisis is fundamentally different.
The students in the UK recognise that the relentless cycle of consumption harms the planet and are questioning their participation and what the consequences are. Whilst Rio share this reality, their connection with the environment is tied to cultural identity and folklore, making the crisis feel more personal. This is reflected powerfully across their artworks.
I have been impressed by how passionately they have expressed their climate concerns not only through their words but through their creativity. These young voices deserve to be heard, but more importantly, they demand accountability.”
"They recognise that this relentless cycle of consumption harms the planet, yet they are caught between participating in that culture and questioning its consequences."
A Platform for Global Youth Voices
The artworks created through this exchange will be displayed on advertising billboards in both countries in March 2026, giving these 60 young artists an international public platform for their concerns.
The varied perspectives shaped by British and Brazilian contexts will appear side by side, allowing audiences in both nations to see how environmental activism takes different forms depending on culture and location.
Through participating in this project, the students have engaged in the kind of learning that Artichoke believes transforms understanding. They have moved beyond classroom discussions to create work that speaks directly to audiences in public spaces. By working with professional artists and seeing their ideas developed into public artworks, young people have gained confidence in their voice and recognised the power of creative expression to communicate complex ideas.
“It's really cool to think something I made... is up all over the country and in other countries”
This collaboration exemplifies how art education, when done effectively, can help young people articulate concerns about the world they inherit. It shows that whilst the specifics of environmental anxiety differ between cultures, the urgent need for systemic change is universally felt.
The Gallery Season 5 gives these varied perspectives equal weight, demonstrating that environmental activism changes face across the world.
Explore the artworks via thegallery.org.uk/participation/its-not-easy-being-green
Discover more about It’s Not Easy Being Green via thegallery.org.uk
For more insights on the process behind this campaign, watch below: