about ‘Tributaries Of Knowledge’

Maathai was tenacious and a pioneer. She thought globally and acted locally, leading the fight against environmental degradation in Kenya with an activism that was intersectional; she understood environmental justice to be intrinsically tied to social justice, particularly women’s rights, many years before others in the environmental movement saw the connection. She also understood that sustainable development needed to embrace democracy, culture and religion if it were to be successfully embedded into the fabric of society.

In 1977, in response to rivers and streams drying up affecting food supplies in rural areas, she founded the grassroots organisation the Green Belt Movement, supporting women to work together to grow seedlings and plant trees to bind the soil, store rainwater, provide food and firewood. Today, the movement has planted some 51 million trees in Kenya. Wangari Maathai also worked tirelessly to demand greater democratic space and more accountability of the government in Kenya, which resulted in periods of imprisonment throughout her life. Still, she did not give up. She was tenacious.

In 2004, Wangari Maathai became the first African woman and environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Bryony came across her work in 2011 and, just days after first landing in Africa for a placement at National Museums Kenya, news broke that Maathai had passed away. An incredible outpouring of national remembrance followed for days; a unique way to become acquainted with Maathai’s work.

Maathai’s story has sparked in so many the desire to create and hold space for intersectional conversations about our relationship to nature within the public realm. For Bryony, the experience inspired the question of how art can contribute to positive, constructive, and inclusive responses to the environmental crisis, encouraged by Maathai’s demonstration that one’s efforts need not be so big that they are unimaginable. It can be a simple as planting a tree. Her globe is an honouring of Maathai’s continuing influence, individually and globally.