More and more people are raising the alarm about the problem of plastic pollution in our oceans, but incredibly not everyone seems to be listening. That’s why sculptor Helidon Xhixha and photographer Giacomo “Jack” Braglia decided to send their own eco-message in one of the most traditional and romantic of ways…
…in extra-large format.
The aesthetic and emotive impact is very strong.
Like the striking contrast between the beauty, the luminosity of the steel sculptures we see floating in the waters in front of the world’s most prestigious yacht club, and their meaning, charged with foreboding.
The Monaco Yacht Club, just as Venice (where the “Twin Bottles” were exhibited for the first time last July) is inextricably linked with the sea, that precious stretch of water that surrounds it and makes our lives so special.
No other place could be a better venue for exhibiting these two gigantic bottles containing a message of hope for the future of our blue planet so dear – at least in words – to us all. Unfortunately often in words alone, because in reality the actions we can take to reduce (eliminate would be a bit utopic) plastic pollution in our seas are still very limited.
The Twin Bottles: Message in a Bottle project sponsored by the Gabriele and Anna Braglia foundation – is born from the meeting of the Albanian sculptor Helidon Xhixha and young Swiss photographer Giacomo “Jack” Braglia. The two artists decided to merge their talents – moulding steel and 3D photography– into a project to build a colossal environmental installation consisting of two crushed plastic bottles floating on the water’s surface, like abusively abandoned refuse; one a sculpture in mirror-polished stainless steel, the other lined with photos of plastic waste.
This is the continuation of Helidon Xhixha’s artistic path, so closely linked with the environment after the fantastic reception of his Iceberg sculpture, presented once again in Venice in 2015.
The Twin Bottles will be the visual stars of the Monaco Ocean Week; a week of meetings dedicated to raising awareness of the need to protect our marine ecosystem and the sustainable development of the “blue” economy, which between 24 and 30 March 2020 brings together scientists, experts, NGOs and representatives of industry to discuss the possible actions to take against plastic pollution in the world’s oceans.
The two sculptures will be continuing their journey toward new destinations throughout the world, where they will certainly keep on drawing attention to this vital issue. The artists have chosen 2039 as the time limit for revealing the message the bottles contain, by which time one would hope this battle has been long won.
In the bottle we have hidden a message of hope for a cleaner world. We hope that when the message is revealed, humanity will have finally become aware of the problem of environmental pollution and acted to reduce its impact on the future.