Wise Monkeys

How can art have a positive impact? How can an artist be an influencer? These are the questions I ask myself constantly. My brother is a Medical Doctor specialising in Tropical Diseases. My sister is a Dr of Cell Biology specialising in curing really bad-ass diseases. I play guitar and draw pictures. So as you can probably tell already, there's a need here to do some good, to be the person I was raised to be and effect positive change in the world. My first step was to become a teacher - my beloved career which I know for sure enabled me to effect change. My second step - to use art to raise awareness and raise funds. I chose to support Orangutan Foundation International because, after a lot of research, I could conclude that they DO THINGS. They buy swathes of forest with the money they raise so that they can protect those inside their boundaries from deforestation. They do save orangutans - but they also save the other inhabitants, indigenous tribespeople, plants and trees - which all goes to having a knock-on impact on the climate crisis. We need to preserve those eco-systems. I was delighted when I received a response to my email applying to partner with OFI to raise funds for them: Dr Galdikas likes my artwork! This was huge for me. So I drew 4 Wise Monkeys, and these became my most popular item for sale to date, through Etsy and other outlets! And I know that as an artist I am doing good. I also now offer an A3 Custom Wise Monkey for £40 - £20 goes straight to OFI. What's Step 3? That's the upcoming single and album, but we'll get on to that in a bit...