Trash Art comes to Freo

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

Artur Bordalo also known as Bordalo II, the famous Portuguese street artist known for sculpting stunning animals from waste, has been attracting attention in Fremantle’s Piazza.

He has almost completed a striking new addition to his Big Trash Animals series in the Piazza. The large-scale sculpture depicts a quokka and her baby, Quokka with Baby, constructed entirely from discarded plastics, scrap metal, and other salvaged waste.

Quokka with Baby

It’s bold, textured, and impossible to ignore, and celebrates ‘the happiest animal on earth’— the Quokka, small marsupials that are native to Western Australia. Quokkas are mostly found on Rottnest Island, where about 10,000 of them roam freely. Despite their friendly appearance, they are wild animals. They’re mostly nocturnal, and mothers carry their tiny joeys in a pouch like a kangaroo.

Bordalo’s sculptures deliver a powerful environmental message. By transforming rubbish into vibrant wildlife, the artist challenges viewers to confront the consequences of overconsumption, waste, pollution and all types of endangered species.

Bordalo’s works can be found all over the world and are referred to as Trash Art. Most of his work is in Portugal. I first encountered his art a few years ago while in Porto – his famous Half Rabbit in nearby Vila Nova de Gaia. The rabbit bursts from a street corner in a riot of salvaged materials. It felt alive despite being made of trash.

Half Rabbit. Porto

Trash Art grew alongside modern art movements in the 20^thcentury and is closely related to Dada, Pop Art and Arte Povera. One of the influential early figures was Marcel Duchamp.

The new Fremantle quokka carries that same magic. Bordalo’s art is both playful and confronting — beautiful although built from waste; and changes how we see rubbish, wildlife, and responsibility.

In a world facing climate change and plastic pollution, his art proves that art can inspire change.

Words and pics by Jean Hudson @jeansodyssey.

Jean Hudson is our Shipping and Sailing Correspondent and also a regular feature writer, reviewer and photographer here on the Shipping News. You may also like to follow up her informative Places I Love stories, as well as other feature stories and Freo Today photographs, right here.

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