Satish Kumar
Raised as a Jain monk from the age of nine, Satish Kumar became a campaigner for land reform at 18, working to turn Gandhi's vision of a renewed India and peaceful world into reality. In 1962, concerned about nuclear proliferation, he began, with his friend E.P. Menon, an 8,000-mile peace pilgrimage, walking from India to Moscow, Paris, London and Washington with no money, through deserts, mountains and supposedly hostile territories to deliver a message of peace to the leaders of the four nuclear powers at the time. In 1973, he settled in England and was invited by the renowned economist E. F. Schumacher to be the editor of Resurgence magazine, now titled Resurgence and Ecologist. Under his editorship the magazine has become, according to the Guardian newspaper, ‘The spiritual and artistic flagship of the green movement’. In 1991, Satish co-founded Schumacher College, in Totnes, Devon, UK, an international residential education centre named after E. F. Schumacher, which aims to provide transformative learning for sustainable living. Satish writes, teaches and leads workshops internationally on holistic economics, reverential ecology, holistic education and voluntary simplicity. His books include Soil · Soul · Society: A New Trinity for Our Time, No Destination, Earth Pilgrim, You Are Therefore I Am, Elegant Simplicity and Radical Love.
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Events
Jhon Kwano
As an elder from the Lani tribe in the highlands of New Guinea, Jhon Kwano is from the last generation of his people to receive traditional initiation. He was identified from an early age for the role of Messenger, sharing the message of his tribe with outsiders and reporting back what he has seen in the outside world. He is the only one known to be playing this role outside of Melanesia. As such, he is authorised to represent not only the Lani, but also other cultures in both New Guinea and the rest of Melanesia. New Guinea is one of the most bio-culturally diverse places on Earth and Jhon’s people still live as their ancestors have for thousands of years, in harmony with nature.
Claire Elouard
Claire is of French nationality; she spent her early childhood in Senegal, Africa, and later studied in France. She has a master’s degree in biology and a PhD in vegetal ecology from universities in France. She conducted her field research for her PhD in Indonesia and afterward spent eight years carrying out research into forest pathology and ecology in Malaysia and South India. Subsequently, she directed an environmental project in the Mumbai area of India, from 2001 to 2015. She then developed her workshops on ‘Energy of Nature”, offering unique opportunities for adults of all ages and backgrounds to deepen their connection with the natural world through intuitive practices. Dr Claire Elouard has been deeply connected with nature since childhood. She later developed her perception of nature’s energy and deepened it by learning about the Hindu philosophy on the five elements and their corresponding chakras. She has been teaching people to communicate with nature and perceive its energy since 2004 in India, France, Belgium, Singapore, Malaysia, Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan.
Events
Artist-in-Residence
Hanien Conradie
Hanien Conradie is an earth artist known for her diverse land-based creative practice centered around ‘sense of place’ and ‘belonging’. Her practices include landscape paintings in natural pigments, studies in ink on paper, ritualistic performances and ceremony and meditative pieces in natural pigments; all in relation to special places she knows well. Hanien is an active contributor to earth concerned interdisciplinary symposiums, online organizations and artists’ residencies where ecological research is conducted through creative practice. She has a Master’s degree in Fine Art (with specialization in painting and ecology), holds a degree in Architecture and she is a teacher who has taught at tertiary institutions such as the Michaelis School of Art (UCT) and at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She has participated in numerous ecological exhibitions located in Southern Africa, Europe and the USA. In addition, Hanien runs private workshops focused on the discovery of new ways of relating to natural places, to other human beings and to herself through creative practice.
Colin Campbell
As a descendant of Scottish aristocracy, born in Zimbabwe (1963) and trained by some of the most renowned African healers of Southern Africa, Colin Campbell has become known for being a knowledge-bridge between rare pre-industrial African culture and contemporary Western culture. As a child, Colin travelled through Africa with his father, Alec Campbell, a celebrated cultural historian and archaeologist. From the age of seven, he was introduced to some of the most powerful African healers and magicians in Botswana, who instantly recognised the boy’s calling as a healer and accepted him as a student. Colin experienced and integrated ancient aspects of traditional African knowledge through the rigorous rituals and training from his teachers. This resulted in a deep understanding of animism and its inextricable connection to the natural world. Through his in-depth knowledge of African culture, Jungian psychology and contemporary artistic practice, Colin has cultivated a uniquely authentic personal philosophy that he has developed into wilderness-based practices. His practices aim to take people of all nations into a restored and reconnected relationship with the wider natural world.
Events
Visiting Teachers
Celebration Series Higlight
Hanien Conradie
Colin Campbell
Dr Claire Elouard
Jhon Kwano
Satish Kumar
Hanien Conradie is an earth artist known for her diverse land-based creative practice centered around ‘sense of place’ and ‘belonging’. Her practices include landscape paintings in natural pigments, studies in ink on paper, ritualistic performances and ceremony and meditative pieces in natural pigments; all in relation to special places she knows well.
Hanien is an active contributor to earth concerned interdisciplinary symposiums, online organizations and artists’ residencies where ecological research is conducted through creative practice. She has a Master’s degree in Fine Art (with specialization in painting and ecology), holds a degree in Architecture and she is a teacher who has taught at tertiary institutions such as the Michaelis School of Art (UCT) and at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology. She has participated in numerous ecological exhibitions located in Southern Africa, Europe and the USA. In addition, Hanien runs private workshops focused on the discovery of new ways of relating to natural places, to other human beings and to herself through creative practice.
