Scour the forest floor for wood and leaves, add a collection of recyclables from local rubbish bins and presto, you have a giant bird’s nest smack dab in the middle of a forest 40 kilometers from Imperia, Italy.
Bird in Upcycled Nest is the latest creation from British artist and activist Char Evans and her not-for-profit enterprise Eco Art Installations. The huge nest is comprised of plastic and glass bottles, polythene bags, clothes, mirror fragments, boxes, packets and even a mini crucifix found on the street.
Artist Char Evans collecting garbage from the street bins
Setting up the nest
The “bird” in the piece is Evans herself who doffed her clothes to make a statement. The Kundalini design painted on her body symbolizes energy that lies dormant until activated.
Italian artist Serena Volpe applied the design and assisted in building the nest and official photographer Riccardo Bandiera documented the event in stills and Giorgio Montanari and Davide Staunovo Polacco of Produzioni Chidakasha documented it in video before the recyclables were returned to the rubbish bins and the nest returned to the forest floor.
Italian artist Serena Volpe paints Evans’s back
Giorgio Montanari documenting the installation
Evans’ installations are meant to draw attention to global ecological initiatives – you might say energy that lies dormant until activated by government dollars and public pressure. In this case, Bird in Upcycled Nest celebrates the world’s first waste-to-biofuel facility located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The private enterprise / taxpayer-supported plant will take hard-to-recycle materials like certain plastics, wood and shingles and make methanol out of them.
Watch the making of ‘Bird in Upcycled Nest’ video
Earlier this year, Evans and Volpe collaborated on similar piece comprised of waste and recyclables, this time on Papeete Beach, also in the Liguria region of Italy. The duo collected driftwood, moss, bottles, cans, lids, cushions and jam jars to fashion a face on a rock. It’s called, appropriately enough, Rock Art Created from Upcycled Waste, a prelude to the forest endeavour.
