Living under environmental challenges with rapid technological advancement, MoMo慕 (Prof. Shirley Yeung) nurtures woman and young people via a visionary convergence of art, business-in-tech, nature for antipoverty. My Blue-Green entrepreneurial activity intends to inspire sustainable transformation via SDG#3 wellness with peace and innovations.
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INTERVIEW
How did you find your way into art – was there a specific moment or person that set you on this path?
Song Yang , a renowned Beijing/Paris-based artist entrepreneur and founder of SYART 798 Gallery who inspires Prof. Shirley Yeung, a UN Sustainability expert, professor of practice, and art, with actions to change – business system thinking into artistic creative thinking to be a curator with art exhibitions to art in homeware, e.g. exhibitions at Hong Kong’s Fringe Club.
My book publication, academic papers and artworks are full of “east + west/ nature + calm”, integrated with AI and NFT technology for life-wide learning with sustainable practices, aiming to transform traditional approaches into forward-thinking models that address SDG x ESG x AI for humanistic caring.
Together, Prof. Shirley and renowned artist Foo Sai Hang
also unites artistic expression with technological innovation, paintings in nature with AI models. This synergy aims to elevate awareness about climate change, biodiversity, and ecological conservation, while fostering entrepreneurial mindsets rooted in sustainability.
How would you describe your artistic practice to someone encountering your work for the first time?
The concept of transformations – both personal and societal. By integrating art and AI, they inspire someone encounter my works with calm, hope, resilience, and regenerative growth. My art-tech-business initiatives with SDG x ESG x AI encourage artistic practices to restore and sustain the natural world and ICH (intangible cultural heritage). This aligns with global movements like COP30, emphasizing the urgent need for innovative solutions to climate crises and sustainable development.
Furthermore, my artistic practice fosters education in eco-entrepreneurship, emphasizing the role of creative thinking and technological literacy. Through workshops, exhibitions, and community projects, MoMo 慕 (artist) and Prof. Shirley Yeung (academic) cultivate a culture of conscious innovation—where art and colors are a vehicle for dialogue.
What themes or ideas keep returning to your work, even when you don’t plan for them?
The innovative art initiatives led by MoMo 慕and Prof. Shirley Yeung, centered on sustainability, nature, and AI-driven transformation, resonate deeply with the 7 principles of the United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (UNPRME) and 10 principles of UN Global Compact. Specifically, the theme of art-tech-business keep returning to my work in education in art, tech and business to align with the UNPRME’s mission to foster responsible leadership and sustainable development, including efforts to combat poverty (SDG#1/2) and inequality (SDG#10) and Prof. Shirley is the Cochair for UNPRME Anti-poverty Steering Committee.
“Art as a Catalyst for Responsible Management Education 2045”
Can you walk us through your process – from the first idea to a finished piece?
MoMo慕’s focus on connecting yourself to observation, calmness with color appreciation, communities that look for transformation and eco-entrepreneurship. Then, creative thinking comes with practices of colors, medium and patterns of lines/ circles/ Chinese calligraphy strokes for making pieces of unique artwork, fostering environmental consciousness in daily life and social responsibility with ICH. For example, the photographs taken in a recent Lhasa, Tibet trip makes me, slow with breathing for ecological balance and cultural sustainability. The Potala Palace and UNESCO sites in Lhasa encourage me to seek for communities understanding of Lhasa with behavior change in terms of innovations in ICH.
What are you currently working on, and are there any upcoming exhibitions or projects you’d like to share?
SDG x ESG x AI Storytelling & Community Engagement for Systems Thinking & Social Impacts.
Storytelling is needed to scale school-based sustainable projects in secondary schools, like peace schools, green schools, net zero schools and SDG schools. Junior high school students may need to develop narrative skills and ethical framing with local SDG x ESG projects via use of colors, Chinese calligraphy strokes and different medium. Senior high school students may build multimedia touching storytelling and impact reporting with data + narrative. University students may learn how to lead real community engagement project with art-tech-business to present a story like a photo and a painting to school/community stakeholders, and reflect on narrative impact.
How has your practice evolved over the years – what has changed, and what has stayed the same?
Rooted in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and my background in banking, ISO audit, teaching and art curation, all these elements teach my how to build a art system with mapping of things of my style, life-cycle thinking of materials used and basic social-cost considerations.
“Art-tech-business can be a system of analysis to link up issues and produce a visual message with recommendation for social/environmental trade-offs.”
What advice would you give to emerging artists just starting out, looking back on your own journey?
SDG x ESG x AI artworks in my journey of exploration, like Lhasa, Tibet trip carry UN SDG themes (wellness, climate, equality, peace). For emerging artists, they may often consider to apply eco friendly/ upcycled/ ICH concepts, or non toxic materials for digital/NFT proof of authenticity & impact to support marginalized creators (women, youth, indigenous)
Ongoing with substance in dialogue is crucial to drive awareness, meaningful actions and sustainable impacts/
Art with impacts, lets invest your time, energy, synergy in culture and sustainable global goals.
Buyers can check:
Dr. Yeung’s framework: 7 UNPRME principles + 17 SDGs + ESG governance
Authenticity = transparency + data + storytelling.
Upcoming May 30 exhibition on Lhasa, SDG Gallery, Jockey Club, Chinses University, Hong Kong
