A striking climate protest is making its way across continents: life-sized animal puppets from “The Herds” are marching 20,000 km from Congo to the Arctic. The international art project aims to confront the public with the human and ecological cost of the climate crisis—up close.
00:00These life-size puppets are raising the alarm.
00:04They're on an epic 20,000-kilometre journey to alert us all to the dangers of the climate crisis and its impact.
00:13Ferocious, beautiful, vulnerable.
00:17This is The Herds, an ambitious creative art project that's proving impossible to ignore.
00:24I don't think awareness is what we need. Everybody knows what's happening.
00:30I think it's care that we need.
00:32So we're trying to make people care a bit more about the planet we live in,
00:36about the nature that we're about to lose,
00:39about the human price that will come along with this massive, massive crisis that we're in already.
00:46The Herds began its journey in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
00:49It has travelled through Africa and into Europe and will reach the Arctic Circle in August.
00:58It was here, in Kinshasa, the story began.
01:04The animals become alarmed. They begin to flee.
01:08Reaching the bustling streets of the Nigerian city Lagos, picking up more species along the way.
01:14Then into the deserts of Morocco, but forced by climate change to find a new home.
01:24As the journey continues, they confront us in our cities and on our doorsteps about the migration crisis to come.
01:30Here in London, the Herds are delivering another awe-inspiring display, even meeting King Charles on their tour.
01:41The main designers from Okwanda Puppets and Design Arts Collective, based in Cape Town, South Africa, shepherd them along the way.
01:51Sometimes I get emotional to talk about the project, because we didn't know that one day Okwanda will design the puppets that will be very significant to the world.
02:07And then everyone is talking about us. And not just about the puppet, but then about what exactly the problem that we are facing.
02:13Even if in London, 20 people will do something, they did get the message of what we are doing.
02:21Built to be as lifelike as possible, these puppets took months to design.
02:26They're made from recycled cardboard and plywood.
02:29Like the animals themselves, they're also vulnerable to the elements.
02:33A new group of puppeteers is trained in each of the cities along the journey. And there are just a few days to do it.
02:44One particular skill is key to this puppeteering magic.
02:49The animals need to breathe. So you cannot just show that to people, oh, this animal can eat. The breathing is the language of the puppetry.
02:57So the very first thing that they do is to breathe. The breathing is coming from me. I'm the one who's giving life.
03:04With more than 20 different species of animals and dozens of performers marching through the city streets, passers-by are stopped in their tracks, compelled to pay attention.
03:14To think about the crisis in biodiversity and to see these exotic animals we wouldn't normally see in London, up close and personal, it's really moving.
03:27It's just awe-inspiring and great art gets to do that. It's just like really amazing and really poignant that you see the beauty but also the fragility in the animals.
03:35It was really exciting and then a real surprise when you realise what the message was behind it. Very, very poignant.
03:41Where is your water?
03:46As part of the spectacle, the Herds teams up with leading activists, artists and performers in every city to create a series of one-off performances.
03:55It's financed by a combination of public funds, donations, trusts, foundations and individuals.
04:01In a worst-case scenario, one estimate suggests the climate crisis could create as many as 1.2 billion refugees by 2050. For the creators of the Herds, this is an urgent cry for action.
04:15I won't stop the climate crisis. I'm not going to change governments. I'm one drop of water on a very hard surface. But I believe we have to do this. I hope this creates an accumulative movement of something. And this something is care.
04:36The Herds aims to amaze and inspire. To create a crack in what many see as the collective indifference to the crisis we face.
