Welcome to the Social Art Award 2025 – Online Gallery!
We are grateful for the many powerful contributions from artists across the globe. The selected works reflect the diversity of contemporary social art practices and address urgent issues such as climate and water crises, social and economic inequality, migration, conflict, discrimination, and the protection of human and more-than-human life.
Below you will find the submissions from the edition of 2024/2025 that passed the initial jury round. The Online Gallery offers public visibility to these works and supports dialogue around their themes; it does not replace the final jury decision.
Thank you to all artists for sharing your inspiring and committed work. We invite you to explore the gallery and engage with the perspectives shaping the Social Art Award 2025.
Making Waves
Janine Caalders Suzanne van Leendert
"Making Waves" – a fusion of textile art and poetry – invites reflection on our relationship with water: what it holds, what it means to us, and how we use it. Currently on display at the Waterliniemuseum in the Netherlands as part of the exhibition Still Waters, this work integrates jute with everyday discarded materials such as plastic packaging, bottle caps, and sealing clips—items often ignored but frequently polluting our seas. By repurposing these materials, the piece urges viewers to consider their role in water contamination and the pervasive presence of plastics, even in textiles. It evokes both beauty and dismay, mirrored in the accompanying poem, which emphasizes our shared responsibility and the fact that we all belong to the same ‘tribe’: "Only together we can make waves / each one of us a drop." "Making Waves" connects to water quality discussions and initiatives like The Ocean Cleanup, balancing the vast beauty of nature with the stark reality of human impact.
"Making Waves" – a fusion of textile art and poetry – invites reflection on our relationship with water: what it holds, what it means to us, and how we use it. Currently on display at the Waterliniemuseum in the Netherlands as part of the exhibition Still Waters, this work integrates jute with everyday discarded materials such as plastic packaging, bottle caps, and sealing clips—items often ignored but frequently polluting our seas. By repurposing these materials, the piece urges viewers to consider their role in water contamination and the pervasive presence of plastics, even in textiles. It evokes both beauty and dismay, mirrored in the accompanying poem, which emphasizes our shared responsibility and the fact that we all belong to the same ‘tribe’: "Only together we can make waves / each one of us a drop." "Making Waves" connects to water quality discussions and initiatives like The Ocean Cleanup, balancing the vast beauty of nature with the stark reality of human impact.