The Volcano Art Center is hosting a large-scale art installation titled “Changing Oceans: Changing Minds” by visiting Maori artist and environmental activist George Tamihana Nuku.
The installation will be at the center’s Niaulani Campus (19-4074 Old Volcano Rd.) in Volcano Village.
VAC invites school and community groups, along with the general public of all ages and backgrounds, to participate in this islandwide community art project to explore the oceans and our identities changing due to the proliferation of single-use plastics in our modern world.
The project has begun, but there is plenty of time to participate with recycling efforts and upcoming workshops around Hawaii Island to prepare materials for the culminating exhibition, which is open daily, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. this Saturday through Sept. 10.
An opening reception takes place from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Friday in Dietrich Varez Hall.
Through the use of thousands of repurposed empty plastic bottles and pieces of reused carved transparent plexiglas, the project aims to create a symbolic representation of the Hawaii Island, surrounded by plastic marine life and sea birds.
The participatory aspect is integral to people forming a personal cultural connection with the plastic as a material and humanity’s inherent genealogical inter-relationship. The result is participants seeing themselves reflected in the pollution as a pathway to affecting a resolution.
The site-specific installation, directed by Nuku and his team, will rely on engagement from local volunteers in a spirit of collaboration, innovation and exchange.
Nuku has created over 20 large-scale projects of this nature around the world using plastics, such as styrene and recycled bottles, in his art work. The opportunity to present this project in Hawaii connects his Polynesian heritage to the future of the environment.
Nuku’s philosophy is that people must begin seeing plastics not as garbage, but as valuable, beautiful and even sacred materials. “We must transform our relationship with plastic and the environment if we want to preserve our environment,” Nuku said.
For more information on how to be part of this community art project, please contact Julia Williams at (808) 339-1699.
VAC is currently accepting clean plastic bottles with lids for the installation, and accepting registrations for in-person workshops to construct recycled sea creatures. Free workshops at VAC’s Niaulani campus are being arranged.