For those who thought of making art out of waste, Manveer “Plasticvalla” Singh is one of the best inspirations. In 2018, he had made it the mission of his life to do art that helps nature. Since then, he has managed to divert 250kgs worth of plastic waste. All of these would have ended up in landfills.
In an interview with indianexpress.com, 28-year-old Plasticvalla said that he was making landscape paintings at the time. He noticed how the natural landscape was undergoing a negative transformation into a “plasticscape”. So he decided to make art “for” Nature, and not “on” it.
The teacher of art has already sold three of his artworks internationally – two to Abu Dhabi, and one to Germany. He had felt a compulsion to decrease the use of plastic that is difficult to recycle and fill the landfills. He says that he also wants to make sure that all plastic is segregated at the source before being dumped in landfills. To make the vision a reality, he uses as much plastic trash as he can in his artwork. Presently he is creating piece number 12 using plastics.
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The Success Of Plasticvalla
The Plasticvalla says that primarily MLP or RIC no. 7 plastics are used to make his artworks. MLP or Multi-Layered Packaging means any material that is used in packaging. They have a minimum of one plastic layer, which is the major ingredient. There are others made out of a paper board, or paper, or polymeric materials, or aluminum foil, etc.
Read: Kenyan Engineer Makes Recycled Plastic Bricks, 5 Times Sturdier Than Concrete
The Plasticvalla admits, that at first, it was a challenge to work with plastic. After all, his primary education was in using acrylic and oil on canvas. He learned it through trying and making mistakes over and over again. He said that the biggest problem was collecting plastic waste.
However, collectors in India are yet to find plastic waste artwork valuable, even though collectors in other nations have been more receptive. Even though the artwork is cleaned and well-processed, it still proves to be a challenge.
All Image Credits: Plasticvalla
