Martin Aveling

“I was very lucky to spend my childhood being exposed to incredible wildlife through the work of my conservationist parents. We lived in Kenya for many years, and before that in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Whilst my parents were helping to protect critically endangered mountain gorillas on the steep forested slopes of the Virunga volcanoes, I picked up pencils and drew them.

Drawing for work is an immense privilege, and I’ve always tried to use my art to help wildlife. I have raised over £50K for wildlife charities from artwork sales, and while I continue to support wildlife in this way, I am currently using my creativity to try to tell stories about the threats faced by wildlife. I coined the phrase ‘wildlife artivism’ to encourage stronger calls to action in the output of working wildlife artists, as we contend with a world of increased distractions and shrinking attention spans. Knowing that our species has an amazing capacity for generosity in times of crisis, we need to give people a reason to care by highlighting the truth about the threat to wildlife.

I am a global ambassador for Derwent Art – the UK’s largest pencil producer and was commissioned to produce the cover art for their Pastel Pencil range. I have been shortlisted for the finals of Wildlife Artist of the Year fifteen times, and I drew the first ever illustration of a newly discovered species of primate. A career high was being awarded the Inaugural Art of Survival award in memory of the great artist and artivist, David Shepherd.

I’ve held solo exhibitions in Kenya, UK and USA, and I recently produced work for Elephant Parade London and the Faberge Big Egg Hunt.”