UWE Bristol hero celebrated in new social and environmental campaign

Media Relations Team, 29 September 2021

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University of West England staff member, Sarah Selby.

Bristol-based artist and University of West England (UWE Bristol) staff member, Sarah Selby, is named as an ‘inspirational hero’ in a new campaign encouraging positive action to tackle poverty, inequality and climate change.

Sarah features in one of 17 short videos created for the campaign, launched by Bristol based charity Global Goals Centre. Each film represents one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (also known as Global Goals), and celebrates a local ‘hero’ whose work towards the goal inspires others to create a fairer, greener future.

Sarah was nominated in the industry and innovation goal category of the Bristol 17 campaign for creating a mixed media installation called ‘Decoded’, commissioned via the Creative Youth Network’s Creative Futures programme.

Her piece raises issues about the impact of digital, both positive and negative, on the natural world and uses technology in innovative ways to discuss how humans and technology can improve the environment together. Using software, programming, emerging and pervasive technology, Sarah explores digital culture, raising critical questions around its social, ethical and environmental implications.

Sarah said: “Technology is developed by a very small group of people and it can seem quite impenetrable and difficult to access, but it has a very broad global impact on our lives. I work with a broad range of technology and try to incorporate it into physical artworks that raise discussion, foster curiosity and facilitate critical thinking around the technology.”

As well as being a freelance artist, Sarah is a learning support technician for education at UWE Bristol. Alongside this role she’s been working with the School of Art and Design’s Immersive Technology Research Team, which aims to:

Research new technologies and explore opportunities at the intersection of Creativity, Education and Technology
Facilitate knowledge sharing between staff and departments
Find ways to integrate new and immersive technology into student learning and implement them.

A video featuring a local hero will be released every week in the run up to the 26^th UN Climate Change Conference (COP 26) in Glasgow (1-12 November).

This relates to:

School of Art, Design, Culture and Media Creative Industries Sustainability Equality and social justice