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A Melting Polar Bear and Surreal Wildlife Sculptures Burn within the Annual Falles Spectacle
Artwork
#local weather disaster
#festivals
#hearth
#sculpture
#Valencia
Picture © Carlos Segura. All photographs shared with permission
After a COVID-related hiatus, the annual Falles competition in Valencia, Spain, returned this yr with an extravagant celebration filled with flames and sparks. The five-day pyrotechnic occasion attracts 1000’s of individuals into the streets every March to witness fireworks, explosions, and quite a lot of sculptures burn to the bottom, and on the coronary heart of this yr’s manufacturing was a 23-foot polar bear by artist Antonio Segura, aka Dulk (beforehand).
Following works by PichiAvo, Okuda San Miguel, and Escif in earlier iterations, Dulk’s fantastical and surreal “Shield What You Love” featured wildlife and vegetation balanced on high of the cold-weather creature. Two years within the making, the monumental piece was constructed with cardboard and wooden, and a workforce assembled the roughly 30 particular person vignettes across the central determine as soon as on website. Every of the works speaks to the pressing want to deal with the local weather disaster, which Dulk explains:
We’ve got the mom polar bear in the primary sq. for falles, her fur melting like a candle as different animals take refuge on and round her. They’re misplaced and they’re all looking for a brand new habitat… The koala represents the wildfires of Australia in 2019/2020 the place over 60,000 of the creatures misplaced their lives. The orangutan represents Borneo the place their speedy decline as a species is a direct consequence from searching, logging Palm oil, and developments in agroforestry. The fish turns to a can, to replicate the lack of marine life from overfishing.
“Shield What You Love,” which burned this final weekend, is a poetic reminder of how rapidly loss can happen. “Whereas that is only a metaphor it might change into our actuality except we start to alter our behaviour,” Dulk tells Charlotte Pyatt in an interview with Juxtapoz. “I hope the occasion greater than the rest, encourages consciousness and motion for these pressing issues.”
The Spanish artist additionally has smaller works on view at Valencia’s Tuesday to Friday by way of April 21 and Centre del Carme by way of Might 8 to coincide with the occasion. See extra of his items and behind-the-scenes take a look at the spectacular competition on Instagram.
Images © Jesus Amable
Picture © Jesus Amable
Picture © Jesus Amable
Picture © Carlos Segura
Picture © Carlos Segura
#local weather disaster
#festivals
#hearth
#sculpture
#Valencia
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