I’m the co-founder of an art / charity project called Endcount. More info here
What is Endcount
@endcountproject
The name Endcount refers to the current total population of a species that is close to extinction. A number tending towards zero. Humans have had a dramatic impact to planet Earth. Our population has grown from 2 billion in 1927 to 7 billion today. Our rapidly growing demand for food, shelter, material goods and individual wealth comes at a huge cost to the environment and the creatures that share our planet with us. We have impacted some species so much that they now number fewer than 35 individuals left in the wild. Over 4000 species are classed as critically endangered and almost 6000 species are endangered.
Our mission
To bring attention to the human impact on the cohabitants of our planet by putting the message in a context that raises awareness and provokes conversation. Our first project was focused on key species threatened with extinction across the globe. We want to create beautiful and thought provoking art that changes the way people think about these problems. At the same time we want to raise the profile of charities working to save these species and to assist with fundraising for them.
Our story
Endcount is a collaboration between Aurelie Perthuis (Lily) and Joe Bramwell-Smith. We met whilst working at News.com.au where we were telling news stories in innovative ways through multimedia interactive content. In 2010 we started collaborating on an idea of Lily’s for an art project documenting threatened species and data. Lily wanted to create artworks using the numbers found on IUCN Redlist and other sources, She then approached Joe who was at that time a multimedia developer, to create an application. After discovering a mutual interest in the subject matter and compatible skills we sat down to work out how we could best get the message out there and Endcount was born.
The series
Our first initiative was a series of artworks that aim to highlight the declining numbers of certain famous endangered species through a mixture of fine art and data visualisation.
Series two is a deep dive into a specific group of beautiful endangered birds across Australia.
Each piece is a mix of code, print, canvas and paint that captures the extreme fragility of these creatures. Each artwork is a representation of the total number of remaining members of a given species ranging from a few hundred to a number of thousand in a specific time.
How we create the artwork
We started by building an app that we can use to create the base of the artwork. The app allows us to dynamically generate the current number of creatures in the wild. We then start by sketching the species to be reproduced in vector. Once the digital version is generated and then finished in Illustrator it is sent to the printer to come back as a paint-ready physical canvas which is then painted over to provide depth. The process combines research, fine art, code, digital art, printing and painting to create a totally unique representation of the species at risk.
Results
We did 2 major exhibitions with Piermarq gallery, sold about 17 paintings and original drawings worth $70K and gave parts to charities, we participated to Sydney festival organised by the Powerhouse museum, featured our work at WWF Sydney office, displayed our work near Jeff Koons sculptures, and worked with charities and campaigns such as #Rainforest2Reef and #BioPak with Kristin Canning.
We would like to thank Piermarq Gallery, all the buyers, friends, and family for their support
