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.
17
Fitting Shapes - 01
245
Title:
Fitting Shapes - 01
Fitting Shapes - 01
Author:
Athina Kanela
Athina Kanela
Description:
Athina Kanela’s performance-for-camera, in which she fits her nude body into the natural gaps of stones, embodies a deep ecological and existential inquiry—one that seeks to dissolve the boundaries between the human body and the natural world. By positioning herself within the crevices of rock formations, Kanela enacts a symbolic return to nature, evoking themes of primal belonging, ecological embodiment, and the search for a natural womb. This work resonates with ecofeminist theory, particularly the writings of Val Plumwood and Carolyn Merchant, who critique the Western tradition of separating humanity from nature. By merging her body with the earth’s geological forms, Kanela resists this dualist framework and reclaims an interconnected, non-hierarchical relationship with the environment. The gaps in the stones function as a protective, womb-like space, suggesting an act of rebirth, shelter, and planetary healing—themes deeply embedded in both prehistoric and contemporary eco-spiritual practices. From a phenomenological perspective, drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the performance challenges the idea of the body as distinct from space. Instead, it positions the human form as fluid, porous, and deeply entangled with its surroundings. The rugged landscape does not serve as a backdrop but as an active participant in the performative gesture, transforming the body into an organic extension of the terrain. Kanela’s work aligns with land art and environmental performance, recalling artists like Ana Mendieta, whose Silueta Series explored bodily imprints in natural settings. In the context of post-humanist thought, her performance suggests that the body is not superior to nature but rather a coexisting entity within a shared ecosystem. Ultimately, Kanela’s performance is an act of reconciliation and surrender, urging a return to a more intimate, embodied relationship with the earth—one that acknowledges nature as both a source of origin and a space for healing.
Athina Kanela’s performance-for-camera, in which she fits her nude body into the natural gaps of stones, embodies a deep ecological and existential inquiry—one that seeks to dissolve the boundaries between the human body and the natural world. By positioning herself within the crevices of rock formations, Kanela enacts a symbolic return to nature, evoking themes of primal belonging, ecological embodiment, and the search for a natural womb. This work resonates with ecofeminist theory, particularly the writings of Val Plumwood and Carolyn Merchant, who critique the Western tradition of separating humanity from nature. By merging her body with the earth’s geological forms, Kanela resists this dualist framework and reclaims an interconnected, non-hierarchical relationship with the environment. The gaps in the stones function as a protective, womb-like space, suggesting an act of rebirth, shelter, and planetary healing—themes deeply embedded in both prehistoric and contemporary eco-spiritual practices. From a phenomenological perspective, drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the performance challenges the idea of the body as distinct from space. Instead, it positions the human form as fluid, porous, and deeply entangled with its surroundings. The rugged landscape does not serve as a backdrop but as an active participant in the performative gesture, transforming the body into an organic extension of the terrain. Kanela’s work aligns with land art and environmental performance, recalling artists like Ana Mendieta, whose Silueta Series explored bodily imprints in natural settings. In the context of post-humanist thought, her performance suggests that the body is not superior to nature but rather a coexisting entity within a shared ecosystem. Ultimately, Kanela’s performance is an act of reconciliation and surrender, urging a return to a more intimate, embodied relationship with the earth—one that acknowledges nature as both a source of origin and a space for healing.
Description:
Athina Kanela’s performance-for-camera, in which she fits her nude body into the natural gaps of stones, embodies a deep ecological and existential inquiry—one that seeks to dissolve the boundaries between the human body and the natural world. By positioning herself within the crevices of rock formations, Kanela enacts a symbolic return to nature, evoking themes of primal belonging, ecological embodiment, and the search for a natural womb. This work resonates with ecofeminist theory, particularly the writings of Val Plumwood and Carolyn Merchant, who critique the Western tradition of separating humanity from nature. By merging her body with the earth’s geological forms, Kanela resists this dualist framework and reclaims an interconnected, non-hierarchical relationship with the environment. The gaps in the stones function as a protective, womb-like space, suggesting an act of rebirth, shelter, and planetary healing—themes deeply embedded in both prehistoric and contemporary eco-spiritual practices. From a phenomenological perspective, drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the performance challenges the idea of the body as distinct from space. Instead, it positions the human form as fluid, porous, and deeply entangled with its surroundings. The rugged landscape does not serve as a backdrop but as an active participant in the performative gesture, transforming the body into an organic extension of the terrain. Kanela’s work aligns with land art and environmental performance, recalling artists like Ana Mendieta, whose Silueta Series explored bodily imprints in natural settings. In the context of post-humanist thought, her performance suggests that the body is not superior to nature but rather a coexisting entity within a shared ecosystem. Ultimately, Kanela’s performance is an act of reconciliation and surrender, urging a return to a more intimate, embodied relationship with the earth—one that acknowledges nature as both a source of origin and a space for healing.
Athina Kanela’s performance-for-camera, in which she fits her nude body into the natural gaps of stones, embodies a deep ecological and existential inquiry—one that seeks to dissolve the boundaries between the human body and the natural world. By positioning herself within the crevices of rock formations, Kanela enacts a symbolic return to nature, evoking themes of primal belonging, ecological embodiment, and the search for a natural womb. This work resonates with ecofeminist theory, particularly the writings of Val Plumwood and Carolyn Merchant, who critique the Western tradition of separating humanity from nature. By merging her body with the earth’s geological forms, Kanela resists this dualist framework and reclaims an interconnected, non-hierarchical relationship with the environment. The gaps in the stones function as a protective, womb-like space, suggesting an act of rebirth, shelter, and planetary healing—themes deeply embedded in both prehistoric and contemporary eco-spiritual practices. From a phenomenological perspective, drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the performance challenges the idea of the body as distinct from space. Instead, it positions the human form as fluid, porous, and deeply entangled with its surroundings. The rugged landscape does not serve as a backdrop but as an active participant in the performative gesture, transforming the body into an organic extension of the terrain. Kanela’s work aligns with land art and environmental performance, recalling artists like Ana Mendieta, whose Silueta Series explored bodily imprints in natural settings. In the context of post-humanist thought, her performance suggests that the body is not superior to nature but rather a coexisting entity within a shared ecosystem. Ultimately, Kanela’s performance is an act of reconciliation and surrender, urging a return to a more intimate, embodied relationship with the earth—one that acknowledges nature as both a source of origin and a space for healing.