Macao's Artfem 2020 biennial sees some of the world's most intriguing female artists deliver a global wake-up call.

Like many of the best-laid plans over the course of the past 12 months, Artfem 2020, the second edition of the Women Artists International Biennial of Macau, hasn't gone exactly according to design. But the fact it's now happening and running until December 13 makes it something of a miracle – and more than the sum of its original parts.

The collective exhibition brings together the work of more than 100 female artists from around the globe in four different venues in Macao; Albergue SCM, the Former Municipal Cattle Stable, Galeria Lisboa and the Casa Garden gallery. The project is based on the theme "Natura", a concept linked to environmental protection, which according to Carlos Marreiros, an architect and the president of Artfem's organising committee, "allows a broad spectrum of interpretations".

That versatility, or fluidity, has marked the entire event. Originally scheduled to open on March 8 for International Women's Day, COVID-19 forced the postponement of Artfem, but organisers were still determined the show should go ahead. "We didn't want to postpone the exhibition to next year," says Marreiros.

The original thinking about the event in 2018 (which took place at the Macao Museum of Art) and this year was that the biennial should extend to other cities in the Greater Bay Area. "But that's impossible for the moment," says Marreiros. "We must foster ground, regionally and in the world, gain experience, and then open the event to the Greater Bay, of course. But the pandemic hasn't allowed for any of these intentions to manifest."

What has manifested across the four sites in Macao in the meantime is an aesthetic feast for the senses – and a topical one at that. "The first edition of the biennial in 2018 had no aggregating theme," explains Marreiros. "So this time we were very brave in the second edition of the biennial to start with a theme: Natura." The idea arose at a time when environmental issues were at the centre of the debate. "When we discussed the organisation of this biennial in 2019, it made perfect sense, especially due to issues including the Amazon fires, global warming and other concerns worldwide," he says.

The unexpected onset of COVID-19 has not only heightened that sense of Earth's fragility, but also the place of humanity on it. "Natura is a current topic," says Marreiros. "It affects all of us, in the present and in the future, because the life of the planet is at stake. In addition to these issues, it also allows for more symbolic aspects and research on the symbolism of Mother Earth through ethnic and folkloric manifestations from the entire world."

Look out for works by artists including the Macao-born fashion designer and painter Leong Man Teng, who incorporates her material designs into artworks using her signature "cat head" as a model; the Macao-born, New York-based Crystal Chan, whose unsettling paintings explore notions of displacement, estrangement and sadness; the Macao-based multimedia artist Kit Lee, who loves depicting flowers on video recording, sound installation and graphic painting platforms; and Lau Sut Weng, who explores the conflicts between nature and humans, and mankind's total dependence on it.

Other artists worth checking out include young Chinese Central Academy graduate Liao Wen, who highlights the link between the human body and technology with sculptures that invoke glamour and disgust, as well as reality and fiction. Kay Zhang, the youngest Macao artist nominated for the prestigious Sovereign Asian Art Prize, focuses on painting and book-making, while Jiang Miao, a graduate of Beijing's Central Academy of Fine Arts, recently showed at Whitestone Gallery in Hong Kong.

Beyond these names, the extensive list of artists and creators includes the likes of global artists Ana Pérez-Quiroga, Bianca Lei, Ana Jacinto Nunes, Bella Tam, Nadine Norman, Maria Madeira, Carol Sin-chai Kwok, Gigi Lee, Francesca Zoboli and many others. Why not change your best-laid plans and go see some wonderful art by a group of seriously talented artists?