CreateCOP27 Jurors | Art Partner

Lidia Arthur Brito

UNESCO Regional Director for Southern Africa

A forest engineer, with a Master and Doctorate in Forest and Wood Sciences from Colorado State University in the USA, born in Mozambique, and staff of Eduardo Mondlane University since graduation in Forest Engineering in 1981.

She has held senior positions in Mozambique such as Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Eduardo Mondlane University and Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology.

She joined UNESCO in November 2009 as Director for Science Policy and Sustainable Development, in Paris, and currently, she is the UNESCO Regional Director for Sciences in the Latin America and Caribbean region.

Her areas of expertise range from forestry and sustainable management of Natural Resources to Higher Education, Science and Technology policies and programs as part of public policies for sustainable development. She has chaired several commissions and task teams in particular in Higher Education and STI for Sustainable Development.

She co-chaired the Scientific Organizing Committee for Planet Under Pressure Conference in London, a major conference for the preparation of Rio+20, and she has been a member of several international Boards such as African Foresters Forum Governing Board, UNU Governing Board, CHET Board, Stockholm Environmental Institute Governing Board, Biodiversity Governing Board among others.

Currently she is the co-chair of the Organizing Committee for the Open Science Forum for Latin America and the Caribbean (CILAC).

“Despite the fact that Latin America and the Caribbean produce only 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, it’s a region that is experiencing enormous changes in rainfall, rising temperatures and the frequency and severity of weather-related disasters. The climate emergency is already having devastating social, economic and environmental impacts. From melting Andean glaciers and severe forest fires, to destroying floods and droughts, Latin America faces climate-related development challenges that are unprecedented.”

Hans Ulrich Obrist

Artistic Director of the Serpentine

The leading light in transdisciplinary approaches to cultural experience, Hans Ulrich Obrist is a global curator and artistic director based between London and Zurich. Consistently connecting the dots between emerging artists and art historical thought, the Swiss curator’s innovative practice and deep curiosity has made him one of the most influential creative tastemakers of the past two decades.

Known for his long-standing role as Artistic Director of the Serpentine, Obrist has curated over 300 shows in his career to date and written and edited numerous books, including 2015’s influential ‘Ways of Curating’ and, in 2021, ‘140 Artists’ Ideas for Planet Earth,’ a manifesto that also serves to demonstrate his ongoing dedication to sustainability and combating the climate crisis. Applying this spirit of expansiveness in his collaborations with brands, Obrist’s keen eye for cultural shifts makes him a kind of soothsayer for our time: creating experiences for global audiences that feel like a summons from the future.

Named by ArtReview as the number one most influential person in contemporary art twice, Obrist is a luminary who continues to push the art world forward by constantly questioning its outdated categories – and by applying his unique expertise to break the boundaries between fashion and technology, physical and digital culture.

Giovanni Testino

Founder of Art Partner

Since 1992, Art Partner co-founder Giovanni Testino has led the agency known for its roster of fashion creatives and production. With nearly 30 years at the helm, Testino has grown the agency from a core focus on fashion photography to include styling and creative direction as well as hair and make-up divisions – ultimately becoming an important source of creative talent and content development across fashion, luxury, beauty and technology.

Testino studied Economics in California before travelling to Peru to pursue work in the shipping industry in the 1980s. Excelling at his work and quickly building robust shipping business relationships, Mario Testino urged his brother to swap ores and concentrates for photography. With an aim to start their own business venture, the siblings opened the first Art Partner office in New York, capitalising on the city’s explosive creative scene.

Art Partner offers a fully integrated approach to its brand collaborations, which includes creative development and image consulting, as well as film and production, in-house digital content strategy and distribution, fashion consultation, image syndication, and production services from the agency’s offices in New York, London, and Paris.

Today, the roster of creatives includes Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott, Mario Sorrenti, Glen Luchford, Harley Weir, Alasdair McLellan, David Sims, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Tyler Mitchell, Marie Chaix, Lucia Pica, Ezra Petronio, and Ferdinando Verderi, among others.

Among the agency’s many advertising clients, Art Partner frequently works with the likes of Gucci, Chloé, Burberry, Versace, Prada, Puig, Valentino, and Lancôme. Art Partner has also worked on campaigns in the technology and the food and beverage industries, teaming up with clients such as Apple, Samsung, and The Macallan among others.

Ferdinando Verderi

Creative Director

Over the past few years, Ferdinando has been pioneering a new type of creativity for the fashion and luxury industry. His unique, concept-driven process has shaped in-depth strategic and creative partnerships with Prada, Versace, and Adidas Originals, each time tasked with the complete repositioning of the house’s voice and image.

Most recently, Ferdinando has been focused on the publishing world by re-thinking the iconic Vogue Italia publication, with the aim to bring it closer to its original position of industry challenger, creating in the first year a few unprecedented cases in the magazine’s history, including the first-ever completely illustrated issue, involving no photographic production as an ecological statement, the first completely blank cover as a symbol of silence during the height of the pandemic in Italy, and covers drawn by children of 2 to 9 years old to introduce a discussion on the topic of youth during the pandemic. In September 2020, he conceived an issue with 100 covers, each dedicated to one person, each telling the story of their lives in 1 minute and most recently, an issue dedicated to animals in which no fur or leather were featured in the editorials.

His current collaboration with Prada has seen the same progressive mindset come to life with ideas such as that of premiering the 2020 resort campaign wrapped around flowers to be found in flower shops around the world, and later, turning the campaign into a Sotheby’s benefit auction selling unique pieces from the fashion show to benefit Unesco. Most recently, he created an interactive, evolving print campaign that is made of dialogues between Miuccia Prada, Raf Simons and their audience.

Ferdinando’s work has been awarded some of the highest honours in the creative industry, including the Grand Prix at the Cannes International Festival of Creativity, Gold Lions, as well as D&AD and Grand Clio Awards, where he has been the most awarded creative in the fashion and beauty category.

“When it comes to provoking change, one action is worth a thousand words: this program is created to reward ideas which try to imagine new ways to act.”

Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior

Professional Athlete and Entrepreneur

Marcelo Vieira da Silva Júnior is a Brazilian footballer born in Rio de Janeiro on May 12, 1988. He began his career at Fluminense before he was transferred to Real Madrid where he played for around 16 years and made history being known as the team’s biggest champion with 25 league titles. Currently Marcelo made his debut in Olympiacos FC, the most successful club in Greek football history and the 9th in the world in total titles won by a football club.

The Brazilian has had a career with many important milestones over the years, becoming a complete and decisive athlete. He is also considered the best full-back in the world in the last decade, having won the individual title of best in the world in his position six times.

In addition to being a professional sportsman, Marcelo is an entrepreneur and environmental advocate. He actively endorsed the Adidas Parley jerseys made from ocean plastic. Having grown up playing on the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Marcelo is especially passionate about protecting the oceans and keeping them clean.

Shaway Yeh

FOUNDER OF YEHYEHYEH

Shaway Yeh is one of China’s key opinion leaders in Fashion and Culture. Under Yeh’s editorial direction Modern Weekly reaches China’s elite readers with the latest international news, trends, and cultural discussion and became China’s most influential lifestyle publication.

In 2017 she also became co-creative director of the global video channel NOWNESS. Yeh is an advisor to Copenhagen Fashion Summit and Green Carpet Fashion Award and has been using her media outreach to advocate issues related to sustainability and innovation.

She founded the consultancy agency yehyehyeh to push forward the sustainability agenda among Chinese brands and designers, bringing together sustainability, creativity and innovation to instigate value-based change.