Profile assignment leads to striking campaign
Many students and colleagues have probably noticed it over the past few days: striking pink texts have appeared around manholes in various places on our campus. Students stopped to look. Teachers wondered what was going on. The campaign is part of the profile assignment by Ilse Vloet and Rosa van Loon from 5 HAVO.
The research
For their profile assignment, Ilse and Rosa are conducting research into awareness of plastic pollution and plastic waste in the sea (the well-known plastic soup). Many people do not realize that (plastic) waste that ends up on the street can eventually flow into rivers and seas via rainwater and drains. This is a major problem, especially when you consider that plastic waste can remain in nature for decades and slowly break down into microplastics.
Guerrilla geography
For their research, Ilse and Rosa use the principle of guerrilla geography. This involves using unexpected places in public spaces to make people think about a social or environmental problem.
This idea is in line with the work of various geographers and artists. For example, French geographer Yves Lacoste emphasized that geography is not just a school subject, but can also help to highlight social problems. And street artist Banksy uses art in public spaces to unexpectedly confront people with social issues.
Inspired by these ideas, Ilse and Rosa opted for a shock art campaign centered on street drains. They sprayed the message "This is where the sea begins" in fluorescent pink letters with chalk spray paint at around 30 locations on the street. To keep the execution as secret as possible, only a few school staff members were aware of the plan, and they only took action during the evening.
The campaign
The shock art campaign was designed with the aim of literally making people stop and think about where the plastic waste ends up when it goes down these drains. The campaign attracted a lot of attention, just as Ilse and Rosa had hoped! In several places, students and staff stopped to watch, conversations arose, and photos were taken.
And if you're concerned about graffiti on the sidewalk and its potential impact on the environment, Rosa and Ilse had thought of that too. The texts were created using biodegradable chalk spray. This spray is completely safe for the environment and will disappear naturally over time due to rain and use.
Plastic Earth
In addition to the campaign, Ilse and Rosa also created a work of art from collected plastic waste. This artwork depicts the continents and the sea, showing that plastic pollution is a global problem. The artwork is intended as a shock art installation: it confronts viewers with the amount of plastic waste and shows how this problem ultimately ends up in the oceans. They presented this artwork during the profile assignment market on Tuesday, March 3. At that moment, the link with the texts on the sidewalk also became clear.
