In September, London welcomed Painting International Law: Art for Conceptual Visualisation, an exhibition by Prof. Dr. Elvira Pushkareva at Candid Arts Trust, presented in collaboration with HIAS, the University of Hamburg, the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship and The Bold Mellon Collective.
Elvira Pushkareva is an international law scholar and artist with more than 20 years of experience in the field, including work with the United Nations, WWF and academia. Through her artistic practice, she explores how painting can make complex ideas in international law more visible, tangible and accessible.
I was excited to meet Elvira and talk with her about her journey from international law to the canvas, the ideas behind her work and the relationship between art and law.
ELLA: You have spent more than 20 years working in international and environmental law. What made you decide to step away from the written word and begin expressing legal ideas through painting?
ELVIRA: I would not say that I stepped away from the written word. Rather, I discovered another way of thinking about law and communicating international law challenges important for everyone, like human rights, global commons, protection of the environment.
After more than twenty years working in international and environmental law, I had accumulated a great deal of knowledge. But I began to feel that legal writing was not always enough to express the complexity of what I was seeing. The turning point came at a conference on the relationship between freedom of science and freedom of art. I suddenly started seeing legal problems in images. I could visualise concepts, tensions and gaps in ways that were difficult to express in words.
My first reaction was: “No, I am a lawyer, not an artist.” But I eventually realised that I could use my experience as a lawyer and researcher together with painting.
That is how my method, Art for Conceptual Visualisation, or ACV, was developed.
What surprised me most was that painting did not simply help me communicate ideas that I already had. Sometimes, while painting, I discovered ideas that I had not consciously recognised before. The creative process became a way of organising and encoding my thinking visually. Later, I could return to the painting and interpret what I had discovered.
So for me, the process became:
research → painting → unexpected insight → interpretation → further research
This is why I see painting not simply as an illustration of international law, but as a potential research method.
It also opened another important possibility. International law can become isolated within a professional community of lawyers and experts. Yet many of the questions we deal with – climate change, human rights, global commons concern society as a whole.
Art allows me to step outside that professional isolation and open international law to wider audiences.
ELLA: International law can seem abstract, technical and inaccessible to the general public. What do you hope happens when someone encounters one of your paintings without knowing anything about international law?
ELVIRA: I hope the painting creates curiosity before it creates understanding.
Even without knowing international law, I want the viewer to feel that the painting is asking important questions about rights, justice, or our common future.
If it makes someone stop, feel something, and ask “What does this mean?”, then the painting has already opened a door to understanding and engaging with international law.
ELLA: Many of your works address fundamental questions of human rights, peace, environmental protection and the global commons. Which of these issues feels most urgent to you today, and why?
ELVIRA: For me, two issues feel particularly urgent: slavery and the global commons.
According to estimates, around 50 million are still trapped in slavery and forced labour around the world, despite international legal prohibitions, including the 1926 Slavery Convention.
For me, this is a powerful reminder that legal prohibition alone does not necessarily eliminate the reality it prohibits.
The global commons raise a different but connected question: how do we govern what belongs to all of us, such as our environment or outer space resources, and how do we protect the interests of future generations?
Both issues ultimately bring me back to the same question: how can international law become more effective in building justice worldwide?
ELLA: When you are standing in front of a blank canvas, are you thinking like a lawyer, an artist, or do those two identities disappear into one?
ELVIRA: Both, of course. I can’t separate my legal and artistic identities, as well as I can’t separate my legal and artistic thinking on the particular concept or challenge.
ELLA: Your paintings often translate very complex legal principles, such as the right to a healthy environment, freedom, dignity or the peaceful settlement of disputes, into visual and emotional experiences. How do you decide what a particular legal concept should “look like”?
ELVIRA: I don’t! When I think about a particular concept or challenge, I simply start to see colours and images in my mind. Then I put them on the canvas and see where the painting takes me. And this is where it becomes interesting. During the process, I may discover a connection, a tension or an idea that I had not consciously formulated before.
So the painting is not simply an illustration of a legal concept. It becomes a kind of visual dialogue with my own thinking. Sometimes I start with the law and the painting follows. And sometimes the painting shows me something new, and I go back to the law with a new question.
That is one of the most exciting things about ACV for me: I do not always know what the painting will tell me until I have finished it.
ELLA: So your painting process can change the way you think about the law?
ELVIRA: Yes, absolutely. Sometimes I understand a legal concept differently only after I have painted it.
When I paint, I can discover connections or ideas that I was not consciously aware of when I started. The painting becomes a kind of visual record of my thinking – and sometimes it shows me something that I then need to explore through further legal research.
So the process can work in both directions: law inspires the painting, and the painting can inspire new legal thinking.
ELLA: That’s such an interesting creative approach, I love it! Now let’s talk about your exhibition at Candid Arts Trust. How is presenting the work in London different from its beginnings in Hamburg, and what do you hope a London audience will take away from it?
ELVIRA: The two exhibitions are different because they focus on different aspects of international law.
In Hamburg, I presented the main challenges facing international law today.
In London, I focus more specifically on international law, business, human rights and environmental protection. I really enjoyed collaborating with Annie, Amy and Emilia from the Bold Mellon Collective – they developed a performance in response to my artworks on the environmental responsibilities of business – it was truly inspiring.
I hope this kind of collaboration encourages other people, including researchers and scientists in different fields, to explore new artistic approaches to express and communicate their ideas.
Of course, I also hope that people will not simply look at my artworks, but stop and ask: What has international law achieved? What is still missing? What can we do to bring about change and create a better future together?
ELLA: If visitors remember just one idea after leaving the exhibition, what would you like that idea to be?
ELVIRA: If visitors remember just one idea, I would like it to be this:
There can be no sustainable future without protecting human rights, especially basic rights such as freedom from slavery and forced labour, and without collective efforts to govern and protect our common heritage.
Meeting Elvira and seeing her work in person was an amazing experience. There was something particularly inspiring about seeing international law – something so often expressed through dense texts, principles and institutions – translated onto the canvas. Our conversation gave me a lot to think about and left me reflecting on how art can open completely different ways of approaching ideas we might otherwise consider too complex or distant.
I left feeling inspired, curious and grateful for the opportunity to have met Elvira and learned more about her work. I’m very much looking forward to continuing our conversation and I’m sure we’ll keep in touch.
Photos by Amy-Rose Edlyn and Emilia Nurmukhametova.
