Environmental Art

I would like to share an art project that I did over the summer of 2018. It is a paint by numbers and the subject of it is a landscape. Both these aspects of the painting add to what the project is actually about. The concept was a project just for myself. I decided to go around and pick up trash in my neighborhood. I would collect bags of trash. Normally they were ten-liter bags, but sometimes I would fill up twenty-five or forty-liter bags too, depending on if I was doing it with my friends or collecting in an area that had a lot of trash. For every bag that I filled, I would color one number in the painting. And so, each color in the painting represents a bag of trash collected and the world becoming one step closer to the beautiful landscape depicted in the painting. That was the premise of the piece.

I made this project during a medical leave from work. It was a motivation for me to do something outside of myself and beneficial to the environment and my community. As well as create something to have as a physical representation of that work that I did during that hard time. It was really a good project and now I want to go over some of the things that happened and what my experience was while I did it.

I'll start by going back to how I got this idea and what the inspiration was. Really, I have to give the credit to my mom. When I was a kid, wherever we were walking, to the grocery store, in parking lots, or anywhere, really, if she saw a piece of trash on the ground she would without fail pick it up. And when I grew up I really respected her for that. I thought it was just amazing how even if someone looked at her funny or even if I looked at her funny she would never hesitate to just do that one thing.

When I moved to Japan, I would constantly see trash on the ground and it started to bother me quite a bit. Especially since I loved Japan so much, it became myJapan. So, when I would see people just throwing trash on the ground and piles of garbage on the street I would get really upset and wonder, "why do people do this?" And I decided that I was going to start doing something about it.

Now, I have to clarify something for this to make more sense; in Japan, there are not as many public trash cans. When my mom was picking up trash she would just deposit it in the nearest public trash can, but in Japan, they don't have that. When I started to pick up trash there was just no place to put it and I had to keep the trash myself. So, I started to bring my own trash bags, and that way I didn't have to put dirty garbage in my own bag. I could just take it home and throw it away at my house. I started collecting more and more bags throughout the week as I waited for garbage pickup day to come. After a while, the thought came to me that it would be cool to do something art related to make a statement about the amount of litter collected. That is how the project was born.

The reactions I received from people as I was doing the project ranged from really surprised and awestruck to being straight out ignored. A lot of the people that stopped to say something to me were older people who would tell me, "Gokurou sama", which means, you are going to a lot of trouble. You say it when someone is doing something that is an inconvenience to them for you. Usually, the reaction that I would get from middle-aged people was them saying, "Eh, sugoi!", which means, "Oh, wow!". Sometimes they would simply say, “thank you”. Young people, from around 20 years and down would usually ignore me. I hate to stereotype but that was also generally the age range that I saw littering the most.

The next phase that I went through during the whole process was finding areas that were not a trash can but somehow were commonly acknowledged to be a place where everyone littered, like next to vending machines, bushes, and tall grass. You don't find pokemon there, you find garbage and lots of it.

The best example I can think of was this spot on a bridge. I lived near a sewage processing plant and there was a man-made river that flowed from the facility past my apartment which I had to cross every day to get to work. On the bridge I crossed, on either side, there were small park-like areas where elevated walls retained soil wherein trees, bushes, grass, and plants were planted. In that area, every day someone left a convenience store iced coffee plastic cup just sitting on the guard rail of the bridge. There were also lots of cigarettes and cans that people would leave on the ground. These, among other convenience item packaging, that are actually not difficult to throw away at the convenience store where purchased, were taking up the majority of the litter on the street, sidewalk, and foliage.

Every single day I would wake up, start walking to work, and sure enough, the same kind of trash would be in the same spot. It was very disheartening. The feeling was as if you were a mom and you cleaned the whole house. Your kids come home from school and just start making a mess. They kick their shoes off and throw their stuff around, without even paying any attention to what you did. You would feel like saying, "Look at me! Look at this mess that you're making when I just cleaned it up!"

Sometimes I would even pick up trash in front of people who just threw something on the ground, looking them in the eye as I picked up their garbage. And, they would still do it. The next day that same piece of garbage would be there again. It was very exasperating as I was trying to make that image, and it wasn't sticking in real life.

Then, one day I had a kind of epiphany: I don't need to think of this regenerating garbage as ruining my score, so to speak. I should think of them as bonus points. The fact that they are leaving trash there, in a place where I'm walking is the fact that I can pick it up.

And, if they are the type of person that is going to litter, then they are going to do it anywhere. My perspective changed in that respect and I started to really own the project. I thought, "I'm doing this! I'm not going to be upset. If people are going to litter anyway, I'm glad it's in a place where I can pick it up. Instead of it getting thrown into the river."

I’ve seen videos about animals getting plastic soda rings around their necks and such. It is so true and it isn't just in the ocean. All animals have to deal with their environment getting polluted. Once I saw a river turtle paddling along in the water with a styrofoam insulator box stuck on its back. It was so far away, there was nothing I could do about it. But it showed me that pollution affecting the animals is right here in front of us. Some don't think anything of just throwing away a can or bottle, but the wind blows and it ends up in a river and the river takes it to the ocean. That, or it will just destroy the wildlife in our own neighborhoods, cities, and homes.

Through this project, I found a new appreciation for the people that make a conscious effort not to litter and for those who take active measures to combat pollution. It gave me satisfaction in knowing that I also did something for my community. And I'm no longer one of the people who just aren't a part of the problem, but have leveled up to being a part of the solution.

I hope this video inspires everyone watching to also make a conscious effort because God knows there are far more people that are unconsciously being a detriment. Please try the project yourself. It is not difficult. Get some grocery store bags, fill them up, and then do a paint-by-numbers. I could pick up trash as I was walking and fill up a whole bag on my way to work without stopping or being late. That twenty-some bags of trash are a significant contribution to cleaning up the environment. It's doable. It's completely within any person's power to make a difference in the environment.