Fours friends come together to create installations from scrap

During their third year in college, Karthik Sethuraman, Kaviya P and Vishnu Nair got a chance to coordinate an art installation for a popular mall in the city. Rather than creating artwork with new objects, they used discarded objects to make quirky pieces. After seeing their work, many started inviting them to set up installations in public spaces and for events like music festivals and college functions. The three invited their junior, R Keerthana, to join them and started a collective called Indian Garbage Collective.

“These days, everyone is talking about sustainability and the importance to recycle and reuse various objects that we use in our daily lives. During our tea-time chats in college, we discuss ways in which we could help reduce carbon emissions. That’s how we zeroed in on the idea of creating installations from discarded objects that we could collect from our neighbourhood,” says Karthik, who is currently working as an art teacher in a school.

After Indian Garbage Collective’s launch a couple of months ago, they have done 20 commissioned projects in Chennai, Bengaluru and Kumbakonam. “Four of us have different styles and working methods. Once we get an assignment, we sit together and develop an outline of the work depending on the client’s requirements and the theme. Sometimes, we get to finalise the outline after a few meetings. But sometimes, there will be endless options that lead to creative differences. In such cases, we give importance to the design that comes close to the client’s needs. Once we finalise the design, we start collecting the materials that are needed. Moreover, these discussions push us to think beyond our creative imagination. I think as artists, these brainstorming sessions help us grow in our field of work,” explains the 22-year-old.

One of the members Kaviya is obsessed with the idea of art and dragonflies. Considering her fondness for it, they created a four-foot-long blue dragonfly that’s installed at the YMCA grounds in Nandanam. “We created this dragonfly as part of The Road to GIF music festival, an indie festival which kick starts the season of Global Isai Festival 2020, that will be held in February. For this installation, we have used only cloth and other scrap material,” shares Kaviya.  

Karthik admits that there will be a lot of on-lookers while setting up an installation. “Some people just stand and look at what we are doing. A few come forward and ask questions about the work and how did we collect the materials. We happily reply to their questions and clarify their doubts,” he recalls. They collect discarded materials from their houses, friends’ places, and junkyards. Be it clothes, electronic waste, PVC pipes, iron scrap, etc., the four know how to transform them into quirky-looking installations.