For our Summit 2023, The World Around interviewed artist and designer Es Devlin who gave exclusive insights into the making of her thought-provoking installation, Come Home Again, presented in front of the Tate Modern in London last September. The project stemmed from an invitation to create a portrait of London, which prompted Devlin to ask: “Who is London? Who are Londoners? There are 15,000 species of Londoner, of which humans are one.”

Highlighting the need to protect the city’s threatened wildlife, she created a cross-sectioned replica dome of St Paul’s Cathedral and filled it with her drawings of the 243 priority species identified by the London Biodiversity Action Plan. A performance space inside the dome was used by choirs to sing the names of these species, adding layers of meaning to the installation that would encourage viewers to ingrain environmental issues into their consciousness, and fellow designers to consider these issues in their processes.