Rehema. The endangered Grevy Zebra.
Kenya, Nov 2018
Kenya is a wonderful country. We were hosted by an organisation that tries to provide alternative income streams to locals in an area that has a real problem with poaching of endangered animals. The wildlife corridor has a lot of human-animal interaction problems.
We worked with the workshop staff and 5 welders from the local area to create an endangered Grevy zebra out of scrap. She is called Rehema which means Grace in Swahili. We used poaching snares collected by the rangers in the park for the mane and tail. None of the welders had ever made a sculpture before, and they had never used a welding helmet either. They all use sunglasses!!
We worked with the workshop staff and 5 welders from the local area to create an endangered Grevy zebra out of scrap. She is called Rehema which means Grace in Swahili. We used poaching snares collected by the rangers in the park for the mane and tail. None of the welders had ever made a sculpture before, and they had never used a welding helmet either. They all use sunglasses!!
We bought a few helmets and loads of safety glasses and crowdfunded to send over more on our return.
As a welder, I can't fathom not having safety gear. To the welders reading this, imagine using sunglasses instead of your helmet. They are doing it because they can't afford a helmet not because they want to weld in sunglasses.
This has the potential to be an ongoing project.
As a welder, I can't fathom not having safety gear. To the welders reading this, imagine using sunglasses instead of your helmet. They are doing it because they can't afford a helmet not because they want to weld in sunglasses.
This has the potential to be an ongoing project.
Spider Day
London, May 2018
In 2 hours with 150 young people we made lots of recycled spiders and bugs out of tyres and scrap metal. Kids got to use welders, grinders, drills, Stanley knives and pop riveters. They were amazing and got really into it and gained lots and lots of confidence with the tools.
This was part of a community outreach project put on by Arcadia Spectacular. Their central stage is a spider stage created from recycled military hardware and logging equipment.
This was a really great project where 150 local East London kids and some from Grenfel tower came on site.. got talks from the Arcadia crew about alternative careers, got to play with flame throwers, got fed by a reclaimed food kitchen, then they got to watch the dress rehearsal and also take part in our workshops, headed up by artist Felicity Jones.
It was a real buzz of creativity and freedom.. such a great experience and a very inspiring event.
There will be another in 2019.
This was a really great project where 150 local East London kids and some from Grenfel tower came on site.. got talks from the Arcadia crew about alternative careers, got to play with flame throwers, got fed by a reclaimed food kitchen, then they got to watch the dress rehearsal and also take part in our workshops, headed up by artist Felicity Jones.
It was a real buzz of creativity and freedom.. such a great experience and a very inspiring event.
There will be another in 2019.
Manta Ray scrap art.
Egypt, Dec 2017
The opportunity arose to enter a trash art competition in Dahab, Egypt. There were many challenges, not the lest to find a welder and somewhere to work. In collaboration with Sea Shepherd crew, I created a full size manta ray out of steel, tyres and plastic bottles. We engaged members of the community to help find tyres and collect bottles from the beach and streets.
Dives to collect marine rubbish found lots of drift nets and other plastic rubbish. This was incorporated into the sculpture. As in the sea the drift net was caught in the manta rays huge open mouth, the coral reef as his base was formed of trash sea creature.
The finale of the competition was an installation on the beach to raise awareness of the trash problem in the area. The Manta Ray, called Humpy, was intended to be used as a beach rubbish bin. Hopefully, people will think about where their rubbish goes as it is thrown away.
Dives to collect marine rubbish found lots of drift nets and other plastic rubbish. This was incorporated into the sculpture. As in the sea the drift net was caught in the manta rays huge open mouth, the coral reef as his base was formed of trash sea creature.
The finale of the competition was an installation on the beach to raise awareness of the trash problem in the area. The Manta Ray, called Humpy, was intended to be used as a beach rubbish bin. Hopefully, people will think about where their rubbish goes as it is thrown away.