On 5 August 2026, the FAiR (Frugal Artist-in-Residence) Exhibition officially opened at the Gallery in Coventry University’s Delia Derbyshire Building, welcoming more than 70 registered guests, who explored the exhibition, contributed to a growing collective artwork, and shared their reflections on the role of creativity in shaping more sustainable futures.
The exhibition is the culmination of the FAiR project, an international collaboration that demonstrates how art can become a powerful bridge between environmental awareness, scientific understanding, and community participation. FAiR is furrther expanded by the FAiR4All initiative into the UK context. More importantly, it shows how local stories and creative practices can resonate across cultures, illustrating a truly glocal approach, where local action contributes to global conversations about sustainability.
A Celebration Across Generations
One of the most inspiring aspects of the launch was the diversity of its visitors. Children, students, artists, academics, community members, practitioners, and members of the public explored the exhibition together, creating an intergenerational space for conversation, creativity, and reflection.
The launch itself reflected the collaborative spirit of FAiR. Following a welcome and introduction to the exhibition from the exhibition curators from Coventry University’s Centre for Arts and Creative Cultures, guests heard from participating artists from Malaysia and Coventry, representatives from Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), and Coventry University’s School of Arts and Creative Industries. Visitors then explored the exhibition while contributing to a collective community artwork, sharing reflections through interactive feedback activities, and engaging directly with the artists.
Local Stories, Global Connections
Rather than presenting environmental challenges through facts alone, FAiR invites visitors to experience them through creativity.
The exhibition brings together works created in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, and Coventry, revealing how communities separated by thousands of miles face shared environmental challenges while responding through their own artistic traditions and local knowledge.
A large collaborative mural documents the co-creation of environmental stories developed alongside the coastal community of Pasir Pandak. Nearby, cyanotype studies showcase how sunlight, locally collected plants, and experimentation became tools for environmental observation and artistic expression.
Throughout the gallery, sculptures made from recycled plastics, drift materials, twigs, and withies demonstrate how locally available materials can be transformed into artworks that celebrate biodiversity while drawing attention to marine pollution, habitat loss, and climate change.
Children’s artworks from Earlsdon Primary School and St Anne’s Primary School sit alongside community works from Malaysia, reinforcing one of FAiR’s central ideas: everyone, regardless of age or background, has a role to play in caring for our environment.
Art in Action
During the exhibition launch and throughout the first week, visitors also had the opportunity to watch Malaysian artist Angelina Bong create new work live within the gallery.
Working in front of visitors, Angelina is producing two new paintings that embody the exhibition’s glocal theme. One celebrates the rich mangrove ecosystems of Borneo, while the other creates an artistic dialogue between Lady Godiva, one of Coventry’s most iconic historical figures, and the city’s enduring symbol, the Phoenix. Together, these paintings represent the meeting of two cultures through shared artistic practice.
The exhibition also features three of Angelina’s previous paintings, further demonstrating her distinctive approach to interpreting nature, place, and community through vibrant visual storytelling.
From Visitors to Co-creators
FAiR is not simply an exhibition to be viewed – it is an exhibition to be shaped by those who visit it.
At the heart of the gallery is a collective community art wall, inviting visitors of all ages to respond creatively to a simple but powerful question:
What matters most to you in nature?
Rather than writing comments alone, visitors are encouraged to paint, draw, write, or use symbols to express their personal connections with the natural world. Throughout the launch, the canvas steadily evolved as children, families, artists, students, academics, and members of the public each added their own contribution, creating a shared artwork that reflects diverse perspectives united by a common concern for the environment.
Alongside the collective canvas, visitors were invited to share their reflections through interactive feedback activities, considering what they had discovered, what had inspired them, what they would like to protect for the future, and what actions they might take after visiting the exhibition.
These participatory elements transform the exhibition from a static display into a living conversation, demonstrating that creativity is not only something to be observed, but something everyone can contribute to.
Creativity as Research
FAiR is more than an exhibition of finished artworks.
It reveals the creative processes behind them, showing how artists, researchers, scientists, school children, and local communities worked together through dialogue, experimentation, and shared making. Visitors are invited not only to view the artworks but also to contribute to a collective canvas, reflect on their own environmental values, and become part of the continuing story of the exhibition.
This participatory approach reflects FAiR’s belief that environmental learning is most meaningful when people create, reflect, and imagine together.
Visit the Exhibition
The FAiR Exhibition is open until 27 August 2026 at the Gallery, Delia Derbyshire Building, Coventry University.
Opening times:
Monday to Friday
10:30am–4:30pm
Admission is free, and visitors are encouraged to explore the exhibition, take part in the interactive activities, and contribute their own reflections.
Acknowledgements
The FAiR Exhibition has been made possible through the generosity, creativity, and collaboration of many individuals and organisations.
Our sincere thanks go to the communities of Pasir Pandak village, the JKKK, KRT, and KJM Salak, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), the Malaysian Society of Marine Science (MSMS), the FAiR project co-lead from Malaysia Dr. Jacey-Lynn Minoi, participating artists Angelina Bong, James Robinson, and Noorhaslina Senin, our researchers, volunteers, and student ambassadors.
We also thank Earlsdon Primary School, St Anne’s Primary School, their headteachers, teachers, teaching assistants, pupils, parents, and allotment volunteers, together with Dana Hall, Michael Snodgrass, and the Real Art Team, whose creativity and commitment have enriched this exhibition.
Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the support of Coventry University and funding from the UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Follow-on Fund and UKRI Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Impact Acceleration Funds, which made the FAiR project and exhibition possible.
Sylvester Arnab 