Collection: Scorched Earth

Background

In 2019 our founder Simon Butler visited refugee camps in Iraqi Kurdistan with one of the organisation’s charity partners The Lotus Flower, which provides support to women and children displaced by war. The region has faced the deliberate destruction of hundreds of thousands of acres of crops, amounting to tens of millions of US Dollars in lost revenue and threatening food security. These destructive fires have been attributed to organised militia groups who are using them as an intimidation tactic – most likely ISIS. Simon collected ash from the burnt crop fields and brought it back to London to produce paint to be given to artists to use to create original artworks. The exhibition also included a selection of charcoal drawings on paper made by children living in an Iraqi refugee camp during art workshops hosted by Migrate Art.

Other artists who have included original works for auction are: Conor Harrington, Jason Martin, Jules de Balincourt, Nathalie du Pasquier, Rachel Whiteread, Raqib Shaw, Richard Long, Walid Siti and Yahon Chang. Also as a part of the initiative, Shepard Fairey designed two limited-edition screen prints using ink pigmented with the ash.

These are now sold out, but you can find on our Editions page.

Outcome

The 15 original works were sold as part of Christie’s Post War and Contemporary Day Sale on 23 October 2020, raising a total of £262,000 pounds. This was donated in equal proportion to our three charity partners – RefuAid, Refugee Community Kitchen and The Lotus Flower – whose work supports those affected by the global refugee crisis. The Shepard Fairey prints raised an additional £115,700, making Scorched Earth’s total amount £377,700 raised.

Artwork