Ari Bayuaji’s latest exhibition focuses on tapestries made from plastic ropes that washed up on shore in Indonesia and then were unravelled into fine, colourful thread. The artist, who splits his time between Montreal and Bali, called on locally recruited assistants to scour the roots of mangrove trees for entangled ropes.
“Plastic is so abundant in our environment these days that it has essentially now became a major element of the natural world,” the artist says. “Our lives have become entangled with plastic products in much the same fashion as the coral that I found growing on plastic ropes along the shoreline.”
This video from the exhibition at Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain in Montreal is a walk-through and shows how the project started as the pandemic began. (In English with French captions)
Artwork from the Weaving The Ocean project was also recently featured as part of the Kennedy Center’s RiverRun festival in Washington, DC (2023). The artist will next be creating significant installation works for the Cheongju Crafts Biennale 2023 and Busan Sea Art Festival 2023, both in South Korea.
Exhibition site here.
Artist website, here.
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Thanks for alerting me to this exhibition in Montreal – it’s really lovely. A nice touch was that the artist had left a piece of plastic rope for visitors to handle and that’s very interesting in itself.
I’m jealous! Wonderful you got to see it. It must have been so much better in person – something I always think about when I post such intricate works.
I love this, big time Hooray for turning garbage into art. FYI all of my Art Gowns have been made from trash & NOS for quite awhile now.
I so agree with using discards for art — and you’re a good example. He’s definitely another one. Thanks for weighing in.
My pleasure!
Wonderful, but horrifying at the terrible things we do. I’m so happy this lovely man is doing something beautiful with plastic.
How true that is (wonderful but horrifying). I can’t believe the process it takes to unravel, then weave to create these stunning tapestries. Thank you for your comments.
BIG BIG LOVE
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!