Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Protect Biodiversity - Cultivate Harmony”?
Artist Statement
The Earth's eco-system is beautifully complex but fragile. Biodiversity is essential to maintain the delicate balance our world needs to remain healthy. Half of the Earth's species have disappeared in the last 50 years alone. Many beautiful creatures are gone forever, and each loss erodes the foundation of our eco-system. My poster "Protect Biodiversity-Cultivate Harmony" is a call to humans to do the right thing for endangered species and the planet by protecting biodiversity and cultivating the harmony of Earth's delicate systems. Proceeds of this print will benefit the Cheetah Conservation Fund. –Shepard Print Details: Protect Biodiversity-Cultivate Harmony. 18 x 24 inches. Screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 500. $80.
Summary
Protect Biodiversity - Cultivate Harmony is a 2021 screen print by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant. It is an 18 x 24 inch screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper, signed by Fairey in a numbered edition of 500 with a release price of $80. In the accompanying text Fairey frames the poster as a call to protect endangered species and the planet's biodiversity, noting that half of Earth's species have disappeared in the last 50 years and that each loss erodes the ecosystem. He states that proceeds benefit the Cheetah Conservation Fund. The image is an environmental call to action centered on ecological balance and the preservation of biodiversity.
Why It Matters
This print is a focused entry in Fairey's environmental advocacy work, addressing biodiversity loss specifically rather than climate broadly. Fairey's text gives it urgency, citing that half of Earth's species have vanished in 50 years and framing the poster as a plea to cultivate harmony in the planet's fragile systems. The tie to the Cheetah Conservation Fund makes the activism concrete, channeling proceeds toward a named cause, which is characteristic of how Fairey couples his environmental prints to charitable action. As a database entry it documents the breadth of his ecological concerns, sitting alongside his climate, ocean and nature prints as part of a sustained environmental series. The piece's poster-style messaging and accessible $80 release price reflect his long-standing goal of putting activist art into wide circulation. For collectors, it matters as a representative environmental statement print that combines a clear conservation message with Fairey's signature graphic treatment, and as a node connecting to his broader nature and floral symbolism work.
Collector Perspective
This appeals to collectors drawn to Fairey's environmental and conservation messaging, as well as those building a thematic group around nature, wildlife and ecological advocacy. The poster-style image and conservation message make it suitable for display in homes, classrooms and offices where its call to protect biodiversity resonates. At a release price of $80 in an edition of 500, it is an accessible signed print, well suited to newer collectors and to buyers who appreciate that proceeds supported the Cheetah Conservation Fund. It fits naturally within an environmental collection and pairs with related nature, floral and earth-preservation prints, offering a clear thematic anchor for that part of a Fairey holding.
Historical Context
Protect Biodiversity - Cultivate Harmony belongs to Fairey's environmental period, a strand of his catalog that grew prominent through the late 2010s and into the 2020s. Released in 2021 through Obey Giant with proceeds to the Cheetah Conservation Fund, it exemplifies his recurring pairing of ecological messaging with charitable support. Its biodiversity focus complements his climate-, ocean- and nature-themed prints, broadening the environmental series beyond carbon and energy themes to species loss. Within Fairey's longer arc, the work reflects how the activist who built his name on political and propaganda imagery extended that visual language to environmental causes, using the same accessible poster format and Speckletone screen-print production to spread a conservation message widely.
FAQ
What is the message of this print?
Fairey frames it as a call to protect endangered species and the planet by safeguarding biodiversity and cultivating the harmony of Earth's delicate systems. His text notes that half of Earth's species have disappeared in the last 50 years and that each loss erodes the ecosystem.
What charity does it support?
According to the source, proceeds from the print benefit the Cheetah Conservation Fund. Linking environmental prints to a named conservation cause is consistent with how Fairey pairs his activist art with charitable action.
What are the print's specifications?
It is an 18 x 24 inch screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper, signed by Shepard Fairey and issued as a numbered edition of 500. It was published by Obey Giant in 2021 at a release price of $80.
How does it fit Fairey's environmental work?
It is part of his broader environmental series, focusing specifically on biodiversity and species loss rather than climate alone. It complements his other nature, floral and earth-preservation prints within that thematic body of work.
Related Works
About the Artist
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970, Charleston, South Carolina) is an American street artist, graphic designer, and activist, and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His 1989 “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker grew into the global OBEY GIANT campaign — an ongoing experiment in propaganda, obedience, and visual culture. He reached worldwide recognition with the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, now held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Across screen prints, stencils, murals, and collage, Fairey channels propaganda aesthetics toward themes of peace, justice, environmentalism, and civil rights. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and LACMA.