Close Encounters of the Wild Kind: Urban Wildlife Murals

Artistic interpretations, such as murals, have been found to be effective ways to communicate biodiversity conservation issues to the public. Ecologically themed murals have also been found to generate interest within the community to spur conversation and action to address environmental issues. In the Philippines, murals as a form of street art have been used to promote environmental issues and biodiversity conservation. Examples include dolphins of local artist and environmental activist A.G Saño, Everything Counts: A Mural for a Cause by MINT College, and The Future, In Your Hands and Save the Sharks by Anina Rubio.

On campus, the Ateneo Institute of Sustainability collaborated with The Ateneo Wild and alumni artists Inya De Vera and Nathan Sarcia to install Close Encounters of the Wild Kind - a series of murals designed to highlight campus wildlife, spark conversations, and inspire action. Inya and Nathan are graduates of the Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in Information Design from the Department of Fine Arts and also share an interest in native biodiversity. Each mural features enlarged versions of various campus wildlife that The Ateneo Wild has documented in order for the community to further appreciate and become more familiar with our campus wild neighbors.

We would like to thank the Chemistry department for graciously welcoming the first Close Encounters of the Wild Kind mural. We would also like to thank the following volunteers for assisting our partner artists in the painting: Nicole Torres, Amanda Tolentino, and Jankris Tiffany Peñaflor.