Nature artworks by UAE youth feature in Dubai music video
Sisters Grimm, a Dubai production company founded by ballerina Pietra De Mello-Pittman and Grammynominated singer Ella Spira, have released a new song and music video featuring artworks by children in the UAE. It was released online on Wednesday, marking World Wildlife Day.
The duo recently released their “Covid-conscious” digital initiative UAE Art in Nature, giving young people aged 5 to 18 the chance to get involved with Sisters Grimm’s work, and to channel their creativity while engaging with nature. The programme was supported by Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority.
The self-funded project received more than 1,000 artistic submissions from more than 100 schools across the UAE, and these have been turned into 3D imagery used in the video for new single Windows of the Mind, which features the vocals of Madyan Hamza, who sings in Arabic, and DB Gad in English. “We wanted to provide children with the opportunity to learn outside their usual environment, and enjoy the many benefits of nature for well-being and to inspire artistic, creative expression and family connection,” said Sisters Grimm, in a statement.
Every child who sent in a submission has had their artwork displayed in the online UAE Art in Nature Gallery and will receive a signed certificate of participation. The work will tour the Emirates and later be made available internationally, as part of a Sisters Grimm-curated art installation, in which all of the pieces will be set alongside Spira’s paintings of natural landscapes in the UAE.
“We conceived this project to create an opportunity for everyone to consciously connect with nature and to encourage environmental awareness, so we can all start to take the necessary steps to reaching net zero emissions.
“It’s the start of everyone individually making lifestyle choices from a place of appreciating and understanding the power of nature, and how important it is we all protect our natural world,” said the production company.
Sisters Grimm have released numerous songs and music videos since the start of the pandemic, amassing more than 5.3 million views on their YouTube channel. This includes United, a song written for UAE National Day by Spira and DB Gad, featuring the vocals of Emirati singer Shamma Hamdan, Don Abdullah and Madyan Hamza. Its video has more than three million views on YouTube.
It was inspired by the travels of De Mello-Pittman and Spira across the seven emirates. “It has been special and unexpected to discover the history, culture and natural beauty of the region, which is perhaps less known,” they said.
De Mello-Pittman and Spira founded Sisters Grimm in 2009 in London, before establishing their first international office in the UAE last year. They set up a home writing and recording studio to complete production on a new show, Daughters of the Wind, which will showcase Arab culture.
Last year, the pair were also made MBEs – Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire – for their services to international trade and to the creative industries.