Auckland Artist Featured as Part of UN Initiative

Auckland Artist Featured as Part of UN Environment #BeatPlasticPollution Initiative

Auckland, 31 May, 2018 - A Kiwi artist’s bus-sized plastic windsock will be one of 12 large-scale art installations created from plastic waste that will be unveiled in a dozen cities across Asia and the Pacific as part of UN Environment’s World Environment Day celebrations on 5 June. These temporary exhibits will bring attention to the plastic waste crisis as part of this year’s World Environment Day theme of “Beat Plastic Pollution”.

Erik Solheim, Head of UN Environment said. “The world is waking up to the fact that plastic pollution is one of the most urgent environmental issues of our time, but that it’s also something that we can solve. This year’s World Environment Day is therefore a call to action for all of us.”

As part of the series of installations, in Auckland, artist Brydee Rood has developed May the Winds Not Carry Us Out to Sea, a bus-sized windsock created from waste plastic. The installation will be on display at the Eastern Viaduct from 5-9 June. May the Winds Not Carry Us Out to Sea is being built and installed by the artist and a team of helping hands. using reused collaged sections from assorted single-use plastic trash bags. After display, the artwork will be broken down and repurposed or recycled.

Rood said, “Plastic waste is an issue we can’t avoid and we must work to fix in New Zealand. I hope this artwork inspires people to think twice about how they’re contributing to the problem. Whatever we can do to beat plastic pollution, it can’t happen soon enough.”

Other installations are planned in Bali, Bangkok, Beijing, Cebu, Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul, Shanghai, Singapore, Tokyo and Yangon.

Visitors to the exhibitions are asked to join an international game of social media tag to show how they will help #BeatPlasticPollution.

Artwork ranges from abstract to whimsical to cultural. In Bali, a 5-metre traditional ogoh-ogoh statue built of collected plastic waste will loom large over Sanur beach, while in Hong Kong a giant 400-kilogram sphere of melted plastic will make landfall in Central. In Bangkok, visitors to Central World mall will pass 7 massive gates made from tens of thousands of plastic bags.

“Beat Plastic Pollution”, the theme for World Environment Day 2018, is a call to action for all of us to come together to combat one of the great environmental challenges of our time. Plastic waste is a truly international problem that demands urgent action on the part of business, government and individuals.

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