In a time of accelerating ecological collapse, what role can art play? For multidisciplinary artist and educator Jenny Marketou, the answer lies in presence, participation, and imaginative repair.

Born in Athens and working between Greece and New York, Marketou has long explored the intersection of art, public space, and environmental consciousness. In a new episode of the Seniors Climate Action podcast, produced by Artit, Jenny reflects on her decades-long practice and her belief that art can be a tool for ecological awareness, civic action, and emotional resilience.

“Environmental consciousness is not about age,” she says. “It’s about presence, the desire to care, to ask questions, and to act.”

✧Turning Nature into a Site of Collaboration

Marketou’s work resists the idea of the artist as a distant observer. Instead, she sees creative practice as a form of collective stewardship, a way to listen to a place, respond to its needs, and collaborate with human and non-human others alike.

Her project Rivering (2021), created in New York Harbor from marine debris and natural materials, became a floating habitat for oysters and birds. In partnership with the Billion Oyster Project and Harbor School, it transformed a polluted industrial site into a living ecological threshold.

In The Hatchery Project (2023), she brought this ethos to Elefsina, Greece. Working in the city’s polluted waters, she created a sculptural oyster reef that involved local residents, scientists, and artists, combining care, science, and art in a single participatory process.

“What matters in art is not the techniques or the tools we use, but the ideas that stay with us and evolve.”

✧Repair as Practice, Art as Gesture

In the episode, Marketou challenges the notion that climate action belongs only to the young. She speaks about the responsibility of experienced artists to model engagement and create inclusive spaces for others to participate.

Projects like Inside the Belly of a Garden (Vienna, 2024), where she turned abandoned boats into mobile gardens, and A Leatherback Turtle (New York, 2024), where she sculpted sea turtles from recycled plastic, offer poetic responses to ecological loss, and gestures of care for more-than-human life.

“My work explores the intelligence of nature, symbiosis, and interconnected lifeforms.”

✧Listen to The Podcast

Listen to the full episode (in Greek) on Spotify, or by clicking here
Produced by Artit as part of the Seniors Climate Action project
Language: Greek | Duration: ~28 minutes