Buoyed by the reception to their previous public art works depicting the growing menace of plastic, science film-maker K.K. Ajikumar and musician Biju Thomas have put up ‘The Trap’, a 25-ft high sculpture made of some 1,200 discarded PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate) plastic bottles of one-litre capacity on Fort Kochi beach.
At a time, six people can enter the sculpture and see themselves trapped in the mirrors fitted inside. The sculpture was done with the backing of the Cochin Shipyard, the district administration, Suchitwa Mission and the Edappally Changampuzha Memorial Library at a cost of ₹1.5 lakh.
It is intended to create awareness about waterbodies choking with plastic refuse.
While the interactive sculpture allows visitors to get trapped, an interesting ‘selfie contest’ going with it offers prizes for best anti-plastic captions sent along with selfies taken inside the massive bottle.
The sculpture would be on the beach, behind the Dutch cemetery, till January 30. Mr. Ajikumar has earlier done sculptures at Cherai and Fort Kochi beaches thrice before to sensitise people to the growing menace of plastic, single use plastic, on beaches and in waterbodies.
The creators of the sculpture went with ragpickers to collect discarded bottles for the work. A sculpture titled Fish Cemetery, a resting place for a fish family created by Mr. Ajikumar back in 2017 on Fort Kochi beach, had won nationwide attention and won accolades.
