Update — 5 Min Read
Bebbuxu Installation Exhibited at Esplora
Update — 5 Min Read
Bebbuxu Installation Exhibited at Esplora
Joseph Barbara’s installation reminds us that nature recycles itself all the time!
An installation made from plastic waste found in the sea
Joseph Barbara’s ‘Bebbuxu’ (Snail) installation was unveiled during the Island Guardians final event on 10th October in the presence of schoolchildren and visitors. It will be proudly exhibited in the new section of the science centre devoted to marine science.
The installation was commissioned following a competitive call issued by Esplora in the context of the Island Guardians project.
Joseph Barbara chose to make a snail out of upcycled plastic and fill it with the plastic waste collected during the two Island Guardians clean-ups coordinated with the NGO Zibel. It serves as a powerful visual reminder of all the different kinds of plastic objects that are discarded and swept into our sea and of how they break down into microplastics that are then so easily ingested by wildlife, making their way into the food chain.
Joseph Barbara chose to portray this worrying reality via a large transparent snail in order to highlight the contrast with the way nature operates, in infinite cycles of reuse. Indeed, nothing goes to waste in nature: when a sea snail dies, a crab repurposes its shell!
A copy of the explanatory text accompanying the installation can be found below.
Joseph Barbara is a Maltese artist who became interested in using discarded materials for art following an apprenticeship in sheet metal and welding at the Malta Drydocks.
After working abroad for several years, he returned to Malta and taught welding and art for twenty years. He has been working as a freelance artist since 1994, working primarily with discarded materials, especially plastic bottles, in an effort to highlight the plight of plastic pollution.
His work has been exhibited in many countries from the UK and Italy to Australia to China and Japan, and has won several awards. In 2021, he was commissioned to create a large installation of the face of Jesus Christ, for which he used over 4,200 used plastic water bottles collected via an extensive clean-up campaign all around the island of Gozo.
‘Bebbuxu’ will be exhibited at Esplora for three months. Come and see it!
