2015 – Wear Your Art. Stand Out From The Crowd – Bridget Kennedy

Wear Your Art. Stand Out From The Crowd (colour studies for the future)

March 24th – April 11th 2015.

Celebration drinks Saturday March 28th 4-6pm.

This body of wall brooches, made from repurposed laminate offcuts, CDs and aluminium,  explores the boundaries and values of objects in relation to physical location.
They are just as happy on the wall, as on the body.

Proceeds from the sales of these works will support a school educational program on waste management in Sagada, Mountain Province, Philippines.

I’ve been travelling to this idyllic part of the Philippines for the last 14 years and married my long time Filipino partner, Luke, on a beautiful mountain top in the area in 2007.

In the time I’ve been visiting the region,  I’ve noticeable a big increase in tourists to the area. This has resulted in the introduction of plastic bags and the insidious plastic bottle. The town is now struggling to deal with the resulting increase in waste and there are permanent smouldering piles of burning plastics which is creating air pollution and the potential for health issues. Plastic bottles are now sometimes being incorporated into the walls of new buildings to help utilise this material in a positive way but it isn’t enough and doesn’t address the larger issues. I’ve partnered up with Alumni of a local high school to introduce a creative waste education program on the health risks of burning certain plastics, with the aim of ultimately eliminating plastics from this Eden in the mountains.

Should you wish to support the project with a direct contribution, donations can also be made directly to Studio 20/17. All donors will be acknowledged in the local school newspaper and any publicity.

In the video below, taken recently by Luke Torrevillas, you can see one of the larger permanent smouldering garbage dumps setup in an abandoned house in a town in the next village down the mountains.