A tribute to mother nature: Making sustainability cool with art!

The World Covered in Trash

Going green is no longer boring, but rather an expression of environmental aesthetics. In 1996, German artist HA Schult first came up with the idea of 1,000 life-sized Trash People molded from computers, tin cans, containers, scrap metal, and industrial waste as reflections of ourselves. The trash army traveled around the world to Rome, Moscow’s Red Square, Paris’ La Défense, Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza, and the Great Wall of China. In 2010, Schult created Save the Beach Hotel built from tons of garbage collected from the beaches of Europe, which stood 8.5 meters tall, 12 meters wide, 15 meters long, and weighed 50 tons. In 2011, Schult went on to build the Beach Garbage Hotel in Madrid, Spain in hopes of raising awareness of the plight of beaches and seas around the world which are plagued by litter.

Don’t Let Your Ride Become a Burden

Industrial development brings many benefits for people, but what we’re not aware of is that it also generates a lot of trash. Furniture, necessities, auto parts and accessories, and other things we often come across in daily life could cause an adverse effect to the environment.

For instance, tires are one of the most essential car components, but if they aren’t properly recycled and end up on the streets or in any place, they could provide a breeding ground for mosquitoes that may carry diseases as they collect water. What’s more, burning waste tires causes emissions of sulfur dioxide, which threatens human health. In Taiwan more than 100,000 tons of waste tires are recycled each year, which converts to 2 million tires. Used tires can also be used as materials to create artworks due to their resilience and durability. In 2011, the Chiayi Environmental Protection Recycled Arts Festival exhibited numerous sculptures of bunnies made from used tires. Turning trash into treasure is not uncommon anymore. In fact, recycled art is created by artists around the world. (Photo Credit: Chiayi County Government)

Eco-art Therapy

Waste comes in many different forms and may be categorized in a variety of ways. Scrap metal is one of the top three most frequently recycled materials. Due to their characteristics and quantity, steel cookware, door and window frames, and kitchen countertops are among the few of the materials artists use to create eco-artworks.

The Kaohsiung Pier- 2 Art Center sits the Sound Tree, a visual and audio feast made from 2,000 kg of recycled stainless steel that took the South Korean artist 3 days to find. It’s hard to imagine that a magnificent tree trunk can be welded from distorted, uneven sheets of scrap steel with 300 leaves shaped as fish and copper bells that make pleasant jingling sounds in the breeze. Sunlight shines upon the tree and creates an illusion of fishes swimming on the ground. The steel represents industrial development and the tree symbolizes nature. Balance needs to be reached between industrial growth and nature. The mastermind behind Sound Tree hopes to move people with the beauty of eco-art and remind people not to enjoy the benefits industrial development brings to us at the expense of nature.

Give Fishes a Clean Ocean

We only have one earth, so let’s take care of it together.

Kenyan artist Andrew McNaughton collects marine debris off the beach by his home to create pieces and pieces of extraordinary and inspiring art.

A piece from his Stop collection is a triangular warning sign with a fish skeleton in the center fabricated from trash collected from beaches to raise awareness to the effect our lifestyles and material comfort have on the environment.

We only have one earth. Start by making simple changes in our daily lives and give earth the chance to breathe. Touch people with eco-art.