Acclaimed South African Artist, Sonny, Completes Global Mural Tour and Raises Funds for Endangered Wildlife Through Sold-Out NYC Exhibition.
New York, USA – South African (British-born) artist Sonny, recently wrapped up his hugely successful To The Bone project that saw him complete a global mural tour and sold out solo exhibition in New York, all in the name of raising funds and awareness for endangered wildlife.
The symbolic close of the project was in the form of a $15500 (R215,000) personal donation by the artist– a percentage of his To The Bone artwork sales – to Project C.A.T., a collaboration between Discovery Communications and World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which aims to ensure a healthy habitat for future generations of tigers by helping conserve nearly two million acres of protected land in India and Bhutan.
As a purpose-driven company that has long been committed to telling important stories about the planet and its preservation, Discovery, Inc. believes it’s critical to join the fight in protecting it. With Project C.A.T. – Conserving Acres for Tigers – Discovery has made it their mission to help ensure a future for tigers and other endangered wildlife by partnering with World Wildlife Fund to support a global effort to double the number of tigers in the wild by 2022.
This powerful collaboration is helping to conserve nearly two million acres of protected land in India and Bhutan.
Raising Awareness Through Street Art
Most well-known for his enormous and exquisitely detailed street art, Sonny recently undertook a year-long global mural tour of epic proportions. The worldwide tour was largely self-funded and saw him (together with Tess Cunliffe, Project Manager) execute ten large-scale street art pieces in such far-reaching destinations such as Amsterdam, Canada, Russia, New York, Miami, London, Ireland and Johannesburg. Through the tour, Sonny has brought some of the world’s most iconic and endangered animals into unexpected environments around the world. His grassroots creative journey brought city dwellers eye-to-eye with these animals, allowing an opportunity for reflection and conversation, while rekindling a long-forgotten connection to the wild.
The artist’s creative vision was supported by a variety of wildlife organisations such as IFAW – International Foundation for Animal Welfare (murals in NYC, Russia and London) Far Eastern Leopards (mural in Russia), and Project C.A.T (mural in NYC).
To The Bone Exhibition in New York
The mural tour saw its completion in New York in May 2018, with the opening of Sonny’s first and highly-anticipated solo exhibition of his canvas work along with a series of hand painted sculptures. The sell-out show explored the landscape of the fast-approaching demise of our world’s wildlife and how this is intrinsically tied to humanity’s own ability to thrive. The exquisitely powerful artwork brought people face-to-face with the profound beauty of a wild world on the brink of extinction. The pop-up exhibition in SoHo featured music by DJ Moma of Everyday People and saw people lining up for hours around the block to view the work.
A series of limited edition prints were also available and now feature in the homes of well-known wildlife supports such as Gisele Bündchen, Eddie Vedder and Ilya Lagutenko.
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