One Ocean 2026: Artists and Ocean Justice
Entry
Free entry, booking advised
Date
Sun 21 Jun 2026
Time
2–3pm
Location
Foyle Rooms, Turner Contemporary
How can art go beyond raising awareness to drive real change? How can it mobilize communities and reshape power? And what does this mean for artists? In this timely conversation, leading artist-activists discuss their experience of how creative practice can challenge environmental injustice and support movements for ocean equity.
About the Panel
Poulomi Basu—Artist and Activist
Poulomi Basu is a neurodiverse artist, author known for her exploration of the interrelationship between systems of power and bodies through work that exists at the limits of visual art, photography, film, creative technologies and society. Basu’s work is defined by her hybrid, transnational identity, working across interdisciplinary and experimental mediums. Whilst the centre of her works are often women of the Global South, like herself, her art and its histories are connected beyond their places of origin. Her works encourage us all to challenge and revise dominant histories by highlighting the global exchanges and flow of experiences and ideas.
Basu is a BAFTA Breakthrough UK 2024 recipient and was awarded 2023 ICP Museum Infinity Award for outstanding contribution to ‘Contemporary Photography and New Media’. Her work ‘Maya: The Birth of a Super Hero’ was nominated in competition at the Festival de Cannes 2024. Her first photobook ‘Centralia’, was published in 2020, and the book and exhibition won the 2020 Rencontres d’Arles Discovery Award Jury Prize, and was shortlisted for the prestigious 2021 Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize among many others. In 2020, Basu was awarded the prestigious Hood Medal by the Royal Photographic Society for her transmedia work Blood Speaks, which put menstrual rights on the international agenda and resulted in a major policy change. With current solo shows in Fotomuseum Winterthur (Switzerland) and Focal Point Gallery of Contemporary Art (UK), EMAP 2026 ( Korea). Her work is held in the collections of Victoria & Albert Museum (UK), Museum of Modern Art Library – Special Collections (USA), Harvard Art Museums (USA), Autograph ABP (UK), Martin Parr Foundation (UK), Olympic Museum (Switzerland), among others.
Suzanne Dhaliwal—Artist, Campaigner, Trainer in Creative Strategies for Decolonisation
Suzanne Dhaliwal is an artist, writer, and cultural strategist whose work bridges art, ecology, and climate justice discourse. With a background in climate justice and philosophy, Dhaliwal brings a critical, reflective lens to environmental narratives, using art to challenge dominant paradigms and inspire new cultural responses to ecological crises. Through exhibitions, publications, and public engagement, exploring climate justice through themes such as biophilia, Dhaliwal is shaping contemporary discourse on art, environment, and cultural transformation.
Iman Amrani (Moderator)—Journalist and Broadcaster
Iman Amrani is an award-winning journalist based in Ramsgate. She worked at the Guardian for almost a decade, writing producing and hosting video documentaries. She hosted Channel 4's investigative documentary Inside The Shein Machine, which looked into the fast fashion giant and hosted Generation Change for Al Jazeera English.
One Ocean 2026 is a weekend of free talks, workshops and screenings on art, adaptation and the future of our oceans. Supported by the UK National Commission for UNESCO, Turner Contemporary presents a rich public programme of talks, documentary and artist film screenings, workshops and community activities. Through art, science and storytelling, One Ocean translates complex environmental issues into accessible, action-driven experiences.
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Talks & ToursOne Ocean 2026: What the Wild Sea Can Be with Helen Scales
Sat 20 Jun 2026, 12–12.45pmFree entry, booking requiredHear marine biologist and author Helen Scales talk about the wonder, complexity, and fragility of ocean ecosystems.
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Talks & ToursOne Ocean 2026: Margate's Coastal Identity
Sat 20 Jun 2026, 1–2pmFree entry, booking requiredOur panel explores Margate’s deep and evolving relationship with the sea, from its history as a seaside resort to its present-day cultural revival.
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Talks & ToursOne Ocean 2026: Ocean Health and Human Health
Sat 20 Jun 2026, 3–4pmFree entry, booking advisedThis interdisciplinary discussion examines the vital connections between ocean ecosystems and human wellbeing.
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Films & PerformancesOne Ocean 2026: Artists' Film Screenings
Sat 20 Jun 2026, 5.30–7pmFree entry, booking advisedArtist films exploring oceanic themes, including ecology, climate crisis, world building and human connection to the sea.
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Talks & ToursOne Ocean 2026: Speaking with the Ocean
Sun 21 Jun 2026, 12–1pmFree entry, booking advisedA talk drawing on ancient and modern wisdom to explore alternative ways of understanding and relating to the ocean.
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Talks & ToursOne Ocean 2026: Youth for the Ocean
Sun 21 Jun 2026, 3.30–4.30pmFree entry, booking advisedYoung leaders and campaigners at the forefront of climate justice come together to share their views, highlight action and demonstrate the power of collective organising for ocean futures.
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Workshops & CoursesOne Ocean 2026: Flints Family Workshop
Sat 20 Jun 2026, 10.30am–12.30pmFree entryA drop-in session for families of all ages offering coastal crafting, marine observation, arts and seasonal song.
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Films & PerformancesOne Ocean 2026: Screenings on the Terrace
Sat and Sun, 3–5pm & 7–9pmFree entry, donations welcomeJoin us on the terrace for free documentary screenings of stories from the sea, for all ages. Timings are the same on both days.
Learn more
Art & Environment
How art, creativity and community are working to protect our coastline.
