Campaign trash makes statement on waste, politics in Amman exhibit
Local and international artists and environmental activists created an exhibition of art made primarily of discarded placards from Jordan’s parliamentary elections last year to address political apathy and the growing environmental crisis facing the kingdom.
Shreds of plastic and garlands of waste adorn the walls of “We will All Perish and Plastic is Forever” — an immersive art installation created by US-born Iraqi artist Maria Nissan — at Amman’s newly opened Recycle Art Festival.
“I wanted to recreate the experience that you have when you are swimming in Aqaba, and you are surrounded by trash everywhere,” Nissan told Al-Monitor. A self-described “artivist,” Nissan transforms trash into art “to challenge our consumerist behaviors and their environmental consequences.”
Nissan is among over 60 international artists taking part in the exhibition, which opened on Jan. 20. All the art is created entirely out of discarded political placards from the Jordanian parliamentary election, held on Nov. 10, 2020. The placards were printed on flex, a heavy plastic material that is neither biodegradable nor recycled locally.
At the heart of the event are two women, Hayat Hindiyeh and Khuzamah Abu Joudeh. An artist herself, Abu Joudeh was a co-founder one of the parties that ran in the elections. Seeing the huge quantity of materials used for the campaign, Abu Joudeh felt compelled to initiate a collective artistic response.
