Abigail Burt Hampshire, United Kingdom

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Abigail Burt is a PhD research student at The University of Portsmouth, researching the role of art to communicate marine science to a public audience for the climate crisis. Public participatory projects are formed around sculptural process and storytelling, engaging community with the more-than-human world in the face of a changing climate.

Abigail Burt has been engaging the public with environmental agendas since undertaking her MA in sculpture at the Royal College of Art. Lost-Wax for Lost-Species was her largest project to date, inviting over 100 artists to sculpt endangered species, reaching a large public audience as she bronze cast, exhibited and auctioned the sculptures for conservation charities in an ambitious series of online and in-person events. The latest iteration took place at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, inviting the public to sculpt their own wax species in the Bothy Gallery. Abigail’s work has recently focused on marine conservation, starting with a sculpture for The Shark Trust, which continues to tour as part Oceanic 31, their public awareness initiative for endangered sharks. In 2023 Green Flash began Abigail’s research into marine figures, sailing around the Solent and collating stories through the ceremonious voyage of a bronze story-gathering sculpture, seeking connection and hope.

Abigail is currently researching the role of art to communicate marine science at the University of Portsmouth, working between the Faculty of Cultural and Creative Industries and the Institute of Marine Science. Her research considers non-hierarchical methods of community engagement, and works through a framework of care ethics. Art practice is the method through which she helps build communities for whom love for self, each other and the more-than-human world become daily practice, and the foundation from which we can take the actions needed in response to the data presented to us by scientists. Her research has so far engaged the boating community of Hampshire and Isle of Wight in collaboration with the Wildlife Trust, focusing on Seagrass restoration.

In 2019 Abigail founded KINstinct Arts, a combined art and ecology platform, from which she runs public projects and events, using creative engagement to address ecological issues. She is a Churchill Fellow for researching lost-wax casting and activates her portable foundry for artist-led projects.