“I’d work with Jill again in a heartbeat! She did such an amazing job on the PR for my art exhibition. The coverage that she was able to procure went above and beyond what I was expecting and proved invaluable in driving more people to my event, resulting in more sales, as well as social media followers and enquiries about my work.”
Fine artist and conservationist Sophie Green
Despite being a selective mute until the age of seven and achieving ‘C’ for GCSE Art, Sophie Green has gone on to become one of the world’s top wildlife and environmental artists and travels the planet taking photos of endangered creatures, such as polar bears, rhinos, tigers and whales, that she can then paint. Having battled mutism as a child, she now aims to give animals a voice through her photorealistic paintings, which draw the viewer’s attention to the vulnerability, power and emotion of the creature. The 30-year-old conservationist previously exhibited at COP26 and has won many international conservation awards. In 2021, Green was awarded the ‘medal of excellence’ from the Artists for Conservation Foundation (AFC) representing 500 of the world’s leading nature and wildlife artists, for her outstanding work in the wildlife and conservation sphere. She has 160,000 followers on social, including A-List fans.
PR Superstar was hired to raise awareness and press interest in Green’s forthcoming art exhibition entitled ‘Impermanence’ that was due to take place at London’s OXO Tower Gallery at the end of 2022. The event aimed to raise funds for conservation projects globally, whilst drawing attention to the plight of species at the hands of mankind and climate change. Since turning professional, Green has donated 30% of her income to wildlife and conservation charities worldwide, as well as setting up her own project fund that will support vital conservation work, from safeguarding the snow leopards of the Himalayas, to conducting research on threatened marine species like sharks and turtles.
I focused on Green’s amazing personal story from being a selective mute and spending her early childhood immersed in nature to working as a primary school teacher before bravely quitting the profession “to do what I truly loved” and go on to become one of the world’s greatest wildlife artists whose paintings can command six-figure sums, with fans including Jane Goodall, the famed primatologist and environmental activist.
In our PR, I highlighted the fact that COP27, the next annual UN climate change conference was due to take place at the same time as Green’s exhibition, which provided a useful global hook to piggyback her event on to. I also prominently mentioned in our PR that the star attraction of Green’s exhibition was the commanding ‘Majesty’ featuring an East African lion and named in honour of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who was instrumental in encouraging conservation efforts across the world and who had sadly died just weeks before the exhibition was held.
We led the PR with high-res imagery of Green’s stunning works of art, as well as pictures of her at work in her East Sussex studio, accompanied by YouTube footage of her creating the masterpieces. This resulted in huge TV interest from the likes of BBC News, ITV News, Sky News and CNN who used the PR materials that we provided, in addition to sending film crews of their own along to the exhibition to interview Green and showcase her work. We were especially pleased with Green being invited to BBC Broadcasting House in Central London to speak live on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, an icon of British media, about her desire to forge a path for other female artists “to be seen and be respected in the contemporary art world” – and to use their art in a positive way and be a spokesperson for issues they are passionate about. The highly influential National Geographic magazine also conducted an interview with Green and ran an impressive feature too.
