PhotoVogue at the United Nations: Championing the Sustainable Development Goals

PhotoVogue is thrilled to announce that Alessia Glaviano will take part in the SDG Media Zone at the United Nations Headquarters.

The session will be livestreamed on UN WebTV and the SDG Media Zone website.

Each year, we select the theme for the Global Open Call after carefully observing the socio-political landscape. We ask ourselves: what are the challenges that the world faces today, and how can the visual arts community address them? One of PhotoVogue’s primary goals is to foster visual literacy and awareness through beauty, maintaining an optimistic gaze on world events while not turning away from their harshest realities. The global open call, “The Tree of Life: A Love Letter to Nature,” has brought together extraordinary artists who explore the relationship between humans, animals, and our planet, now in the midst of an environmental crisis that can no longer be ignored. However late, this crisis must be addressed. The projects selected range from documenting indigenous communities, to recycling practices, to conservation and the environmental consequences of colonialism, all aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals identified by the United Nations.

Our collaboration with the UN Department of Global Communications will culminate on September 27th, when Alessia Glaviano, Head of Global PhotoVogue, will speak at the SDG Media Zone. This event intersects the 2030 Agenda with public discourse through interviews and discussions with entities and organisations working toward the same goals for a more just and sustainable future. Created by the UN Department of Global Communications in collaboration with the PVBLIC Foundation, the SDG Media Zone brings together world leaders, influencers, activists, experts, content creators, and media partners. This year, it will coincide with the Summit of the Future, an occasion for world leaders to forge international consensus to meet global commitments and get the 17 Sustainable Development Goals back on track for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Focusing on the interrelationship between humans and nature, “The Tree of Life: A Love Letter to Nature” aligns with many of the Sustainable Development Goals, including “Responsible Consumption and Production,” “Life Below Water,” “Life on Land,” and “Climate Action.” This collaboration between PhotoVogue and the UN Department of Global Communications also reinforces the 17th goal: “Partnerships for the Goals.” During the panel discussion “Art, Nature, and Community: Delving into PhotoVogue and its Global Open Call ‘The Tree of Life: A Love Letter to Nature,’” moderated by Nanette Bran (Director of Communications and Campaigns), Alessia Glaviano will explore the significance and urgency of the global open call in conversation with photographers Katie Orlinsky and Xavier Scott Marshall. Orlinsky, a regular contributor to National Geographic and a member of Prime Collective, captures human stories interwoven with environmental change. Trinidadian-American artist Xavier Scott Marshall, a longstanding member of the PhotoVogue community, will add an intersectional perspective through his work examining colonialism and Black religion. A display of the works from the artists selected through the open call will be shown both on screen in the background during the panel and on various screens throughout the UN Headquarters for the entire duration of the SDG Media Zone.