UNITED STAR OF EUROPE: ITALY/ITALIEN

Affetti Abbandonati is an environmental awareness project focused on the abandonment of waste, as well as a cultural and artistic journey that leads the observer through a reflection on the environmental damage caused by plastic waste.

The project, conceived and created by Biondi Danilo, in collaboration with the Circolo di Legambiente Veneto Orientale "Pascutto Geretto", intertwines various objectives:
The first objective is to condemn how modern society fails to give value to things, because of the harmful idea that any object can be replaced and repurchased. This is an idea which is transmitted to the newer generations, starting at the very beginning of their childhood, through how their toys are treated and discarded.
The second objective of this project is to highlight how plastic is eternal and, if not disposed of correctly, detrimental to the marine ecosystem.
Finally, the third objective of this project is to highlight how any object can be reused or repurposed by giving it a second life. In this project, the toys that are recovered from the beach become artistic installations and subjects of fascinating exhibitions that bring you through an imaginary journey back in time, in which, the childhood memory comes to terms with the immortality of plastic.

The project started in 2018 by Danilo Biondi, 51 years old, activist, member of the environmental association Legambiente, and a photography enthusiast.
“During the beach cleanup days, between the Cavallino Treporti coast and the mouth of the Tagliamento, I picked up a puppet from a well-known Swedish furniture chain, and nicknamed it Ikeo…
Previous to that moment, I had already found and photographed old toys, but it was the discovery of that dirty and neglected puppet that made me flip a switch in my head; I was surprised and saddened because toys are children's first loves, loved and neglected, they are our first travel companions.
Finding Ikeo was useful to understanding that toys are abandoned and forgotten because they are considered of little value.
Toys are our abandoned treasures that are eventually returned to us by the storm surges that hit our beaches.

At that moment the project was born and IKEO was later joined by many other AFFETTI ABBANDONATI, all collected on the beach or in the floodplains of the rivers of Eastern Veneto.
At first I took a photographic approach to condemn the neglect of these toys, but later decided to create art exhibitions to help bring awareness to children on the damage that abandoned toys cause to marine life.

Subsequently, I made small artistic creations with the toys recovered on the beach, emphasizing the importance of reusing and repurposing. The toys thus found a second life and became artistic creations.
Along with these exhibitions, environmental education lessons are organized and carried out for elementary school children, with the aim of helping them understand the gravity of the issue of abandoned waste in nature.

Instagram: affettiabbandonati

19.05.2023

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