A call for action
Last year I did some research to work out what I wanted to share in response to the issues polar bears face for International Polar Bear Day.
Despite being aware of many of the threats they faced, I had heard it all separately and it wasn’t until I could see how the pieces connected that I fully understood the gravity of the problems polar bears and other Arctic animals were battling to overcome.
It was all those sparked moments of curiosity and questioning coming together that led me to create Into the Unknown. I wanted to offer some insight into what drove the creative process as well as what I learned to arrive at this finished piece of work.
You see, my creative lens has shifted since I became a mother. Not once but twice. Each time has taught me new lessons. Motherhood has deeply influenced how I work and what I express. My focus has shifted and I am braver.
What I have come to realise is that my artistic journey is rooted in personal experience and growth. It is how I process what I learn, both actively and passively, through interactions with the world. My practice has always taken a winding path, following the leaping parallel connections my mind makes.
During my research about polar bears I came across the story of a record breaking journey. A mother polar bear who had travelled over 400 miles in search of food. She had been forced to leave her cubs behind. This story hit differently from other stories I had learned. My focus kept coming back to that moment when survival instinct collided with maternal love. The impossible choice: stay and starve or leave in the hope of finding food and returning. When this polar bear made her choice, little did she know just how far she would have to travel and how few opportunities she would have to hunt or rest.
I wanted to understand what pushed her to travel so far and the answer pointed back to us.
There was not enough sea ice. It was melting all too quickly due to climate change. Did you know that the polar seas are warming twice as fast as temperate oceans?
This is what climate change looks like in its most brutal, unforgiving form. It’s no longer statistics about melting ice caps or rising temperatures. It’s the enormous cost that both animals and humans are paying. The risk of an entire species’ existence. The loss of their right to roam free in their habitat without our choices determining whether their future is a thriving one.
Processing through art
When things don’t make sense I sit with them for a while. I’ll write, draw, ask questions and make connections.
Into the Unknown came from a need to process and understand how we had come to a point where we were facing these stories as a reality.
A mother’s long journey isn’t the only one. There are others too. Like the solitary male polar bear balancing on a small piece of sea ice, so starved you could see every bone. Or the polar bears labelled an inconvenience and a danger that must be removed for the welfare of human settlers. Then there are the others who are slaughtered for the illegal trade of their furs. So much of it is a waste of life.
Our relationship with the wild is such a contradiction and out of balance. Whilst we revere and celebrate, many misrepresent, abuse and fail them in the process.
I’ve struggled to know quite how to respond to everything I’ve learned, but for now Into the Unknown feels like the right starting point.
The reality we’ve created
The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. Sea ice (the platform polar bears depend on for hunting seals and resting) melts earlier and forms later each year. This strands polar bears, forcing them to travel further and risk persecution in search of food.
Mothers have few places to den and give birth. Cubs must navigate obstacles they should never encounter. Longer swims. Less time to build fat reserves.
Even the most distant Arctic waters carry plastic pollution. A visible reminder that human impact reaches everywhere, even places we have never set foot.
The call for action
This story does not end here. Moving forward is the only option because survival demands it.
Polar bears are a keystone species at the end of a winding thread connecting many species in a complex food chain. Pull the thread and the ecosystem unravels. That’s why scientists call them ecological sentinels. Their health and wellbeing symbolises whether or not the ecosystem and all the animals within it are thriving.
So let’s be clear. Polar bears are struggling. Hear this warning siren.
As I’ve mentioned before, these stories are not fiction. They are happening right now. A window into what occurs when we push natural systems beyond their limits. A reminder that our choices ripple out far beyond what we can see.
Proof that we cannot wait until tomorrow.
There is hope. Polar Bears International, alongside other organisations, are working hand in hand with communities to educate, track, research and protect them.
There is much we have and can continue to do. You can find out more about what Polar Bears International achieved in 2025 here.
Carrying their story forward
Every time someone asks about this piece of work, you have a chance to tell them about the struggles polar bears endure. They are the guardians of the Arctic, an ambassador calling us to action. You can start conversations and spark action simply by carrying their story with you.
Into the Unknown is available as an illustrated postcard and sustainably made clothing. When you choose this piece, you are not only choosing artwork, you are supporting a business built on intentional sustainable creation.
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