Animals and The City: Reflection on Coexistence

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In the heart of New York City, between Fifth Avenue and Central Park, Animals and the City invites us to pause — to see the invisible lives that share our streets, skies, and imaginations on December 15th, 2025.

This initiative is proudly supervised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the UNESCO World Youth Academy of Arts and Visual Arts, ensuring both quality and international recognition.

In 2025, the Nature & Art Alliance 501(c)(3) brings its global initiative to New York, presenting Animals and the City: Reflections on Coexistence along Fifth Avenue beside Central Park. Gathering ten artists from partner programs and international studios, the exhibition features intimate works no larger than 30 × 40 cm—oil, acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media—whose modest scale belies a profound conceptual ambition.

Across these compositions, animals appear not merely as subjects, but as witnesses. A stray cat poised beneath a streetlamp, pigeons tracing circles in the sky, fish gliding beneath the reflective surface of urban water—each work positions the viewer within a shared ecology, reminding us that cities are not solely human constructions, but living habitats entangled with countless other beings.

In bringing these worlds into dialogue, the exhibition asks a resonant question: What does coexistence mean in the 21st century? At a time defined by environmental urgency and rapid transformation, these artworks invite reflection, empathy, and a reconsideration of our role within a larger web of life.

Animals and the City offers neither manifesto nor moral directive. Instead, it extends an invitation—to look more closely, to imagine more generously, and to recognize that our urban future is inseparable from the lives that quietly accompany our own.

Featuring Artists: Robert Dandarov, Erlend Briggar Larsen, Qui Fei, Sophia Xinman Wang