Flagging off a Waste Cause

In American artist Zachary Becker's studio,discarded plastic wrappings metamorphose into a series of national flags.

American artist Zachary Becker repackages discarded wrappers to make national flags

In American artist Zachary Becker’s studio,discarded plastic wrappings metamorphose into a series of national flags. If the white stripe of the Indian tricolour is made by pasting together packets of a popular tea brand,the green,which represents fertility,has been put together from covers of dhaniya powder packets. Brazil gets its green from the wrappers of whole wheat bars,while bacon wrappers can be seen in the US flag. As one looks around Becker’s exhibition at Ojas Art gallery in Mehrauli,it becomes clear that in these 11 flags of the US,Brazil,China,India and Russia consumerism converges with national identities.

There is an incongruence between national flags and the packaging they are composed of. This in turn leads one to reflect on several issues like recycling,corporate and global identities, says Becker,adding that his art is meant to get people thinking about these co-relations. Among his raw materials are also discarded packets of popcorn,biscuits and tobacco.

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The Davenport-based studio artist hit upon the idea of using product wrappers and packets to make artwork in 2009,after he came across a pile of empty packaging discarded by corporations in his hometown. The 23-year-old returned home with packages of waste butter wrappers. A few weeks later,these were pasted together to make the star-spangled American banner. There was no looking back, says the artist,who was invited to work with the Delhi-based prisoner art NGO Expressions at Tihar,and eventually moved to Delhi.

Once in Delhi,Becker decided to continue with his project and the hunt for trash led him to Old Delhi’s Khari Baoli,the largest spice market in Asia. The shopkeepers recognise me, he smiles,adding how the journey of packaging from consumer goods companies to Khari Baoli also makes for an interesting story. When American companies modify their packaging or print errors,the unwanted packages are shipped to India and China. It is melted and turned into plastic products,which are shipped back to the US. In India,this orderly chain of events is often interrupted,as some of the packaging is used for makeshift tablecloths for street vendors,roofs of slum dwellings or takeaway bags at local restaurants, says Becker.

The artist himself picks from the stock available. The specific brand inevitably co-relates with the national flag it composes, notes Becker,who is now packing his bags for the US. His experiments with consumer packaging will continue. The success of the flags lies not in the work itself,but with an audience that has shown a willingness to engage with questions about Indias rapid ascent as a new economic and artistic world power, he says.

The exhibition at Ojas Art,1A,Qutab Minar-Mehrauli Road,is on till August 28. Contact: 23413136

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