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Illume is pleased to announce our open call for "Earthling Two", which will premiere on Earth Day: April 22, 2021. We had a wonderful response and exhibition in 2019 and a second Earthling show in 2021 has been requested by artists. We are happy to oblige.

A devastating and deadly pandemic swept through our beautiful Earth in 2020 and it is still with us today. It was caused by the human desire to eat wild animals, such as the bat. Scientists tell us that we can expect to see more pandemics like this if we continue to interact with non-human animals in the same destructive manner: wet markets, habitat destruction, factory farms, etc etc etc. COVID-19 also has impacted our environment.

How has the pandemic affected our environment? Stay-at-home lockdowns and car-free zones resulted in less pollution, but unfortunately that increased the extremely harmful ground level ozone pollution in many areas due to the drop in nitrogen dioxide pollution. Nitrigen dioxide destroys ground level ozone, but it also depletes the protective ozone layer in the stratosphere, which is where we need ozone to be. The world also saw a new type of litter problem in the form of discarded masks & gloves. Some grocery stores also initially banned the use of customers' reusable shopping bags. Scientists also warn us of the bacteria and viruses that we may see as Earth's polar ice melts. Viral pathogens that life on Earth has not experienced in millions of years could be much worse than COVID-19, more like a pathogen from another planet.

What does it mean to be a living being, human and non-human, on Earth today? Who and what are Earthlings? Where are we Earthlings headed — or where should we be headed? What is our past, present, future interaction with our environment? What do you as an individual Earthling artist see, think, value, love, desire, worry about, etc etc etc in terms of our planet's network of life?

Human activities have caused and continue to cause the current mass extinction of other species and the ongoing catastrophic climate change taking place on Earth. We humans are also not the only Earthlings on this planet. An insect, dog, or bird is just as much an Earthling as a human is. There is also a sharp divide today in the way that humans view the world and therefore in the way they interact with the world.

There are two particular worldviews that are polar opposites of each other. One view is that we humans share the Earth with other life, both plants and animals — and that we should be responsible residents of the Earth and guardians of the life on it. These people do not feel an exclusive allegiance to any one nation, any particular ethnicity, or any political party. Their first and inclusive allegiance is to our planet and to all the life it supports. That is also the worldview of Illume International Gallery.

The opposing view is that we humans rightfully dominate the Earth and that all of the Earth's resources — plant, animal, mineral — are ours to use without regard to the consequences. The 'allegiance' of these people varies depending on the individual and their location. Sadly, they may never think of themselves as Earthlings first or even as humans first.

NASA image by Reto Stöckli, based on data from NASA and NOAA.

Please copy the information below, fill it out,
and send with each artwork.

Information about you:
Your name
Country of residence
Website or webpage
Contact email

Information about your artwork:
Title of artwork
Dimensions of artwork
Media used in the artwork
Statement about what the artwork: 450 characters maximum

Format for submitted images:
Jpeg image
Size must be at least 10 inches or 26 cm in height and 72 dpi.

As this is an online exhibition, we do not require high resolution images for the online exhibition. There may be a book published on Blurb to document the show, but selected artists are not required to purchase the book. After the selected artworks are chosen by our curators, we will require high resolution images of those works for the book, but please do not send huge files for submission purposes.

Exhibition Information and Dates:
1-10 artwork submissions allowed
Deadline for submissions: April 10, 2021
Acceptance emails sent out: April 20, 2021
Online exhibition premiere: April 22, 2021

Do NOT send us:
Photos of yourself
Your bios
Your CVs or résumes

Send your art submissions to: illume@windstream.net