Ben Carter (UK), 2021-22
Born in England 1977, Ben spent 6 years in Malawi, East Africa (1979 – 1985), then moved with his family to Luxembourg, where he went to the European School for several years. From 1989 to 1996, he attended Millfield School in Somerset, England. Ben successfully completed his GCSE including 3 A Levels in Art, Design and Technology and Business Studies.
Born in England 1977, Ben spent 6 years in Malawi, East Africa (1979 – 1985), then moved with his family to Luxembourg, where he went to the European School for several years. From 1989 to 1996, he attended Millfield School in Somerset, England. Ben successfully completed his GCSE including 3 A Levels in Art, Design and Technology and Business Studies.
Ben trained in London as an illustrator and graphic designer, always with a passion for architecture but rooted in the natural environment. He has a master’s degree in communication design from Central St Martins, including a collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Croatia and Hungary. This involved learning about the role a graphic designer can play in helping NGOs communicate on social and environmental issues.
After moving to Luxembourg with his family, much of his early work focused on the ever-changing skyline of Luxembourg's landscapes. As he described in an interview in 2020, "I aim to represent this skyline in new ways that capture its dynamics, contrasts and liveliness - an optimistic city that is proud of its past and excited about its future...".
According to Ben, art can be used to draw attention to environmental issues and to promote an effort to remedy, protect and enhance the natural world in which we and our children live. Art for him, in fact, speaks to the hearts and minds of peoples - as coined by Ibsen, "an image is worth a thousand words".
In the artistic project 'Ecological Footprints', a set of maps are represented which explore not only climate change, but a number of other environmental issues, such as biodiversity loss, ocean pollution and waste management problems.
