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23 Apr 2025
5 Min Read
Preevena Devi (Contributing Writer), Nellie Chan (Editor)
Step into our gallery of Southeast and East Asian artists who transform waste into engineered works of art—reshaping how we 'see' creativity and sustainability!
Imagine this: a towering installation of assembled tyres rising in a bustling square, a luminous chandelier fashioned from glass bottles scattering rainbow-hued reflections, or a shadow sculpture constructed from scrap metal casting the silhouette of a human figure. Each one turns refuse into reverence, inviting us to rethink not just waste itself, but what waste has the potential to become.
Across Southeast and East Asia, artists are finding inspiration not in the shiny and new but in the discarded and forgotten—our waste. And beneath their creativity lies something even more impressive: these artworks are quiet masterpieces of engineering, balancing materials, mastering structures, and inventing new ways to build.
Artists who work with waste aren't just making art—they're making a statement. Every cracked bowl, every rusted spoon, and every splintered chair carries a trace of the world we live in: one marked by excess, pollution, and inequality. By giving these discarded materials new forms, artists confront us with uncomfortable truths, forcing us to reconsider what we value—and what we waste.
Yet making art from waste isn't simply an act of protest; it's also an act of skill. Turning discarded materials into large-scale artworks demands a deep understanding of the physical properties of each component. Artists must know how flexible plastic is, how much weight steel can bear, and how wood and metal will weather over time. Their process is similar to that of engineers: experimenting, testing, adjusting—treating each material as both a challenge and an opportunity.
Through purpose and precision, trash is transformed from the ordinary to the extraordinary. What we once overlooked becomes something to see anew: striking, moving, alive with meaning. In the hands of these artists, waste is reborn as stories—stories that reveal unseen realities, reexamine broken systems, and remind us that beauty is often found in the most unexpected places.
Red Hong Yi's Kaleidoscope (2021) is an installation made from 24,000 used Nespresso capsules. Her work applies design engineering principles of precision positioning, angle calibration, and surface control to create mirrored reflections. It highlights the beauty of recycled materials and reminds viewers that second lives can create a lasting impact.
Photo credits: Nestlé
Sayaka Ganz's Emergence II (2013) is a sculpture of leaping horses made from reclaimed plastic objects. Aluminium and steel armatures support its flowing form, applying structural engineering principles of internal reinforcement, tension balance, and weight distribution. Her work encourages viewers to rethink how material objects are used, discarded, and given new life.
Photo credits: Sayaka Ganz
Pannaphan Yodmanee's In the Aftermath (2018) is an installation made from found objects and building fragments. Using construction engineering techniques of stacking, stabilising, and surface preparation, she builds a fractured landscape that reflects histories of migration, conflict, and loss, and explores the enduring impact of human presence.
Manish Nai's Untitled (2018) is a sculpture made from used clothes and wood. By compressing soft textiles into dense, modular blocks, he applies material and structural engineering principles of compaction and load-bearing organisation. His work invites viewers to reflect on memory, family, and the ways everyday materials carry the weight of shared lives.
Photo credits: Kavi Gupta
Tita Salina's 1001st Island: The Most Sustainable Island in the Archipelago (2015) is a floating structure made from one tonne of plastic waste, wrapped in fishing nets and supported by oil barrels. Using marine and modular engineering principles of buoyancy and assembly, her work addresses issues of plastic pollution, sustainability, and environmental loss.
Turning waste into art isn't just about creativity—it's about creative problem-solving. To transform discarded materials into large-scale, lasting structures, artists face three challenges: handling fragile materials, building strong forms, and making meaning out of what others throw away.
Discarded materials are fragile and unpredictable. Plastic wrappers tear, rusted metal bends, and old wood splinters. Artists must adapt methods like welding, riveting, or modular assembly to suit each material or invent entirely new ways of binding and layering what was never meant to hold together. Each demands a different approach, where experimentation is constant and nothing is guaranteed.
Even after materials are secured, gravity, tension, and weather are constant threats. Artists must plan how forces move through their structure, where stress points will emerge, and how materials will expand or shrink over time. What looks effortless—a tower of scrap metal or a sweeping arch of discarded plastic—often rests on invisible frameworks of balance, compression, and tension, calculated with care.
Building a stable structure is only part of the task. The real challenge is making waste do more than stand—it must also speak. Through arrangement, balance, and form, artists turn discarded materials into something that catches the eye and holds the mind. Their work invites viewers to see differently: to recognise that what we abandon can still move us, still matter, and still inspire new ways of thinking.
At first glance, art made from waste seems to focus mostly on environmental issues—and it does, powerfully. By transforming discarded materials into something meaningful, artists confront viewers with the reality of overconsumption, pollution, and the growing strain on our planet's resources. They challenge us to reconsider what we throw away, and why.
Yet waste tells more than just environmental stories. In many parts of Asia, especially Southeast Asia, discarded materials reveal patterns of inequality and neglect. Rapid urban growth, industrialisation, and widening wealth gaps have left traces everywhere—in landfills, rivers, and city streets. By repurposing what others discard, artists unveil these underlying divisions as waste lays bare privilege, neglect, and marginalisation.
Beyond critique, there is also construction. These artists are not simply pointing out problems—they are building alternatives. Like engineers designing closed-loop systems, they create examples of circular thinking: giving discarded materials new life and proposing futures where resources are valued, reused, and reimagined. Their work shows that creativity and resilience can emerge from scarcity, offering not just protest, but possibility.
Waste turned into art reminds us that creativity isn't always about building from scratch—sometimes, it's about seeing the potential in what's already there. These artists show that real impact often begins not with grand designs, but with subtle shifts in how we reclaim materials, reframe challenges, and reimagine stories around us. By working with what others throw away, they prove that small changes in perception can lead to larger transformations—moving us towards a more resilient and sustainable future.
After all, trash is not an ending. It's a beginning.
Preevena Devi pursued Cambridge A Level at Taylor's College before attending Monash University. She is a biomedical science student, a passionate feminist, and a firm believer in the transformative power of the written word to change the world!
