LONDON.- Hauser & Wirth has collaborated with Jenny Holzer on a special fundraising initiative to mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day on 22 April 2020. The artist has created a screenprint in a limited edition of 100 examples, featuring her iconic Truism, ‘ALL THINGS ARE DELICATELY INTERCONNECTED'. Holzer's message speaks to the current global health and environmental crises now affecting the entire world. As the artist has stated: ‘Every day is Earth Day’.

This project is part of Hauser & Wirth’s ongoing #artforbetter initiative, through which the gallery provides charitable support in response to both global and local causes. To acknowledge the landmark anniversary of Earth Day and the pandemic that is isolating people worldwide, 100% of the proceeds of sales of Holzer's new print will be donated to charitable partners, split equally between the conservation initiative Art for Acres and the COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund for the World Health Organization.

Holzer's contribution for Earth Day 2020 continues a deep-rooted tradition linking printmaking and environmental activism: in 1970, Robert Rauschenberg created the first graphic image to support the inaugural national awareness campaign for Earth Day in the United States. For Holzer, print and activism have been core pillars of an artistic practice spanning 40 years. Beginning in the 1970s with posters wheat-pasted throughout New York City, her oeuvre continues to provoke public debate and illuminate social and political injustice through language and media. Her texts have been emblazoned on T-shirts, carved in stone, painted on canvas, programmed into LED signs, and luminously projected onto buildings and landscapes.

Holzer's new print for Earth Day has been created by Powerhouse Arts, a not-for-profit based in Gowanus and Red Hook, Brooklyn, established to create a robust platform for art production and employment in the arts. Luther Davis, the Printshop Director at Powerhouse Arts, enlisted the help of fellow Powerhouse Arts printmaker Leslie Diuguid, who was able to create the print from her home studio, Du-Good Press, during this period of essential lockdown.

Addressing oppression, gender, sexuality, power, and war, Holzer’s Truisms challenge expectations and prejudices by presenting seemingly authoritative statements that upon closer inspection reveal questions and contradictions. The text selected for the print ‘ALL THINGS ARE DELICATELY INTERCONNECTED’ has been utilized in Holzer’s work since the late 1970s and early 1980s, where her Truisms were seen on an electronic signboard above Times Square. On Earth Day 2020, the statement adeptly provokes reflection on the pressing demands of a global pandemic as well as the continuing climate crisis. Through her distinctive use of language, Holzer’s work continues to wield art as a powerful force for reflection and change.