Jessica Sim
Co-founder and Director, Artists and Curator
Country: Turkey
Cohort: CCL Creative Europe Wales 2017
"To me, creative climate leadership is about allowing that 'other part' of ourselves, our minds, and our thinking, to play a role in how we address our relationship with this planet. I think of it often as a type of frame - one that has space for art and community, and also for our hearts to play a role - that eases us into seeing and talking and feeling this climate crisis. Creative climate leadership, to me, has the potential to engage those of us feeling paralysed by fear and those of us not knowing where to start."
About
Jess is passionate about ecology and committed to developing creative communication methods to address climate change and inspire more mindful living. Her work with community and sustainability began in 2015 in Istanbul, where, as an activist and artist, she established the Museum of Garbage with FLYING roots. She then co-founded Circuit Istanbul and later, in 2018, Nadas Istanbul. Both organisations focus on establishing community spaces that foster nature connection through creative programming.
Jess holds an MA in International Performance Research from the University of Warwick and University of Amsterdam, and a BA in Contemporary Dance from the London Contemporary Dance School. In March 2022, she moved to the UK to pursue further training in nature connection and nature education, and is currently participating in Call of the Wild 2022.
Project Highlights
NADAS Istanbul
NADAS is a creative house in Istanbul, Turkey, founded in 2018 by Ahu Toksöz and Jessica Sim. We facilitate individual and community projects that support the diversity of urban life and people’s connection to their environments. Our programmes include workshops, yoga classes, art classes, an artist-in-residency programme, talks and community meet-ups around topics of sustainability.
Yeşillendirelim, 2017
Supported by CCL-in Action, organised by Circuit Istanbul and initiated by Sinem Sayar, Jess Sim, and Cansu Yetişgin. A community project focused on building relationships with one another and with our environments, consisting of a series of workshop and a pop-up, interactive exhibition. The project created space for people to come together, share their experiences about living in the city, and work together to expand Istanbul’s green community.
Museum of Garbage by FLYING roots, 2015
The MUSEUM OF GARBAGE derives from a concern for the ecology of waste management in Istanbul and a questioning of the role of the individual consumer within this complexity. At the exhibition, visitors find themselves among carefully-stacked piles of things dis-posed, a mapping of Çukurcuma’s re-collected street-litter, and three-dimensional visualizations revealing the lives and cycles of waste – prompting a re-contemplation of these objects’ nature, use, and consumption. The MUSEUM OF GARBAGE takes place at CLOSET CIRCUIT in Istanbul, where the project also hosts a pop-up cafe with space for feedback and continued conversation about patterns of consumption.
