when roots are not grounded
examining the future of agriculture through creative resilience
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Global undernourishment persists, affecting an estimated 673 million people in 2024, accounting for around 8.2% of the world population, despite modest recent improvements.
Agricultural production and value have grown dramatically: global crop production rose 56% between 2000 and 2022 and yet the OECD-FAO outlook (2025–2034) warns that without coordinated support, smallholder farmers may be left behind, even as GHG emissions rise 6% despite some efficiency gains. Artists are essential translators of these complex realities, grounding data, policy, and speculation into lived, emotional, and resonant experiences.
Stability and growth are two essential qualities we seek everywhere. We use the word “root” to describe the origins of something or even someone. There is no doubt that life springs from a powerful, fundamental base. Nature, identity, and knowledge are crucial for our stability and growth.
Agricultural production and value have grown dramatically: global crop production rose 56% between 2000 and 2022 and yet the OECD-FAO outlook (2025–2034) warns that without coordinated support, smallholder farmers may be left behind, even as GHG emissions rise 6% despite some efficiency gains. Artists are essential translators of these complex realities, grounding data, policy, and speculation into lived, emotional, and resonant experiences.
Stability and growth are two essential qualities we seek everywhere. We use the word “root” to describe the origins of something or even someone. There is no doubt that life springs from a powerful, fundamental base. Nature, identity, and knowledge are crucial for our stability and growth.
Sitraka, Randriarimanga. (2020). Tanimbary. [photography]
Rahanjam, Sarah. (2025). Pheonix. [photography]
When Roots Are Not Grounded ignites in many of us the care for our planet, water, soil and the land we occupy. The stunning artworks are not only pieces to admire; they are powerful stories and urgent calls to action.
featuring 20+ artists
from 15 countries
Therefore, artists in this collection aim to highlight the true relation between these complex elements. They reveal the importance of these to be connected and in harmony at the same time. We are reminded that true growth is not only by climbing higher, but also to reach in a deeper state.
featured artists
Sarah Hussein | Egypt |
@137sarahhussein
Julie Durkin Marty | Redding, CT, USA | @julie_durkin_marty
Dr. Helge H. Paulsen | Hannover, Germany|
@artpromotor00nix
Sara Rahanjam | Tehran, Iran |
@sararahanjam
Luciano Rabuske | Miami, USA |
@luciano_rabuske_art
Julia Kowalczyk | Poland|
Kateryna Harahulia | Vantaa , Finland |
@dextrum_methodo_art
Sitraka Randriarimanga | Antananarivo, Madagascar |
@sitrakamasomahita
Katia Geha | Basel, Switzerland | @katia.Geha
@137sarahhussein
Julie Durkin Marty | Redding, CT, USA | @julie_durkin_marty
Dr. Helge H. Paulsen | Hannover, Germany|
@artpromotor00nix
Sara Rahanjam | Tehran, Iran |
@sararahanjam
Luciano Rabuske | Miami, USA |
@luciano_rabuske_art
Julia Kowalczyk | Poland|
Kateryna Harahulia | Vantaa , Finland |
@dextrum_methodo_art
Sitraka Randriarimanga | Antananarivo, Madagascar |
@sitrakamasomahita
Katia Geha | Basel, Switzerland | @katia.Geha
Jeanette Hart-Mann | Anton Chico, NM, USA |
Nadiia Velychko | Kharkiv-Lviv, Ukraine| @nadiia_vila
Helen Grundy |Birmingham, U.K. |
@grundyhelen03
Eva Alvor | Zaporizhia, Ukraine |
@eva.alvor
Odarley Morton | Nogent Sur Seine, France | @eo_morton
Lynette Clennell | Macau, China |
@lynette0505
Barbara Brown | Ottawa, Canada |
@bbrownartist
Yasser Mirzaee | Iran |
@yassermirzaee
Nadiia Velychko | Kharkiv-Lviv, Ukraine| @nadiia_vila
Helen Grundy |Birmingham, U.K. |
@grundyhelen03
Eva Alvor | Zaporizhia, Ukraine |
@eva.alvor
Odarley Morton | Nogent Sur Seine, France | @eo_morton
Lynette Clennell | Macau, China |
@lynette0505
Barbara Brown | Ottawa, Canada |
@bbrownartist
Yasser Mirzaee | Iran |
@yassermirzaee
Chaeyeon Kang | London, U.K. |
@cynk.l
Aditi Rastogi | Ranikhet, Uttarakhand |
@aditirastogii
Cumhur Okay Özgör | Altinoluk, Turkey |
Martina Sedda | Barcelona, Spain |
@martisedda
Sarah Misselbrook | Riba-roja d'Ebre, Catalunya, Spain |
@artistsarahmisselbrook
Bob van Brunschot | Vught, Netherlands
Citron | Lunardi | Padua, Italy | @citron_lunardi
Puneet Singh Singhal | India | @puneetsiinghal
Jeffrey Kwabena Yeboah | Ghana | @kwabena_tikesie
@cynk.l
Aditi Rastogi | Ranikhet, Uttarakhand |
@aditirastogii
Cumhur Okay Özgör | Altinoluk, Turkey |
Martina Sedda | Barcelona, Spain |
@martisedda
Sarah Misselbrook | Riba-roja d'Ebre, Catalunya, Spain |
@artistsarahmisselbrook
Bob van Brunschot | Vught, Netherlands
Citron | Lunardi | Padua, Italy | @citron_lunardi
Puneet Singh Singhal | India | @puneetsiinghal
Jeffrey Kwabena Yeboah | Ghana | @kwabena_tikesie
project team
Gloria
curator
Gloria is a self-taught Singaporean artist who believes in the power of advocacy through artistic expression. Wielding a paintbrush and a catalogue of not-so-cryptic symbolism, she delights in the cathartic experience of art-making, with her work serving as authentic conversations on the never-ending search for purpose, her queer experience, and her mental health.
Now serving as a guest curator, she hopes to encourage viewers to empathize and resonate with the raw honesty radiating from each contributor’s work and to interact with different facets of identity, nature and self.
Instagram: @gouachedaway
Ilara
editor
Ilaria is a motivated and civic-minded student with international academic experience and a strong interest in European politics, education, and human rights. She enjoys learning from different cultures and perspectives and believes in the power of collaboration to create positive change.
Ilaria is connected with nature since she spent most of her childhood with her grandparents in the rural area. She believes that stability and growth are two essential qualities we seek everywhere. The exhibition serves as a powerful reminder that our most ambitious growth must always be anchored in strong stability. It is a profound reflection on the urgent call for sustainable progress, urging viewers to value our roots, our origins, our history, and the vital link between nature and identity.
Instagram: @ilaria_rosu
ally
director
Ally Zlatar is an artist, scholar and activist. She is the founder of The Starving Artist; an artist initiative that utilizes creative voices as a way to create advocacy and systemic reform. She also founded The Starving Artist Scholarship Fund which helps people access inpatient mental health treatment. Her "This Body of Mine" campaign explores migrant experiences through creative voices and has helped support individuals and artists from refugee-seeking backgrounds globally.
Ally Zlatar has received numerous accolades for humanitarian work; such as the Commonwealth Innovation Awards (2023), UNWomen 30 for 2030 (2024), winner of The Princess Diana Legacy Award (2021). Her Doctorate in Creative Arts was completed at the University of Southern Queensland focusing on embodied experiences of mental illness in contemporary art.
Instagram: @allyzlatar
puneet
guest writer
Puneet Singh Singhal is a passionate advocate for Disability Inclusion and Accessibility, overcomes personal challenges like dyslexia, dyspraxia, and stammering. As the Chief Discovery Officer at Billion Strong and Head of Community Engagement at GNYPWD, he actively promotes inclusivity and disability advocacy.
Instagram: @puneetsiinghal
Healing the world means connecting to our roots, both physically and emotionally.
- Ally Zlatar
Hart-Mann, Jeanette. (2025), They Are Here and We Are They.
[photography].
project partners
green disability
Green Disability is a global initiative bridging climate action, disability inclusion, and social equity. We amplify disabled and neurodivergent voices from the climate frontlines, like those enduring South Asia's brutal heatwaves, ventilator-dependent Akram in Lucknow, autistic Parvati retreating to her bathroom in Kolkata, and caregiver Shaila in Dhaka facing water shortages.
iwra
As a World Water Envoy, Dr Ally Zlatar led this project with her insights and mentorship from the International Water Resources Association. The International Water Resources Association is a nonprofit and non-governmental organization, with the purpose of improving the management of water resources. It is a professional network of water experts which facilitates global knowledge sharing of water resources information across disciplines and geographies.
cultural alleys
Cultural Alleys is a non-profit organisation based in Lithuania. The organisation operates at the intersection of artistic practice, academic inquiry, and community engagement, fostering collaborative projects with artists, researchers, and cultural practitioners across disciplines. Cultural Alleys develops initiatives that integrate creative methodologies with critical reflection to address contemporary social, individual, cultural, and environmental challenges.
If you have any questions or require further information, please feel free to reach out to the same email address.
hello.thestarvingartist@gmail.com
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They cannot be reproduced without explicit authorization and credits.