Bordalo II’s Trash Polar Bear and Cubs in Nancy: Environmental Art for a New Generation, 2020

Portuguese artist Bordalo II created the Polar Bears in Nancy, France, transforming discarded materials into a monumental mother bear and two cubs at École maternelle Didion. The Bordalo II Polar Bears Nancy installation brought the environmental message of his Big Trash Animals directly to a young audience, connecting wildlife, waste and responsibility with the generations who will inherit their consequences.

Bordalo II’s Polar Bears in Nancy

The sculpture was created through ADN, Art Dans Nancy, the city’s urban art programme, with Galerie Mathgoth curating and providing artistic support for the project.

Bordalo II chose a polar bear protecting two cubs, an image that carries particular emotional force when placed on a nursery-school wall. Constructed through his characteristic combination of found materials, sculptural relief and paint, the family appears to emerge directly from the architecture.

Why Bordalo II Chose a Polar Bear

For Bordalo II, the polar bear provided a particularly direct symbol through which to address environmental urgency and the vulnerability of wildlife.

“This is the first time I’ve made a polar bear. A species that, unfortunately, perfectly illustrates the urgency of the situation. Doing it on a school wall makes all the more sense because I’m still hopeful that the younger generations won’t repeat the same mistakes we made in the past, and are still making today.”
Bordalo II

The setting gives the work another layer of meaning. A mother bear holding her cubs becomes an image of protection and responsibility, while the discarded materials from which the animals are constructed point back towards the habits of consumption and waste at the heart of Bordalo II’s wider practice.

Bordalo II Polar Bears Nancy: Art for a New Generation

Placing the sculpture at a nursery school allowed Bordalo II’s environmental message to reach children as part of their everyday surroundings rather than through a traditional gallery or museum setting.

The idea of engaging younger generations would continue elsewhere in his practice. Later in 2020, Bordalo II created a monumental Trash Koala at a school in Imola, Italy, where students became directly involved with the environmental conversation surrounding the work.

Bordalo II and Art Dans Nancy

The polar bears joined an expanding programme of public art created through Art Dans Nancy, which has brought artists including Jef Aérosol, Kogaone, David Walker, Momo and Vhils into the city’s streets.

For Bordalo II, the commission created a particularly fitting intersection between public art and environmental education. His bears form part of the wider Big Trash Animals, in which wildlife is reconstructed from discarded materials to expose the relationship between excessive consumption, waste and ecological damage.

The Nancy bears remain one of the series’ more tender interventions. The mother’s protective embrace gives the environmental warning an unmistakably human dimension, asking what one generation chooses to leave behind for the next.

Discover Bordalo II at GraffitiStreet

Discover available Bordalo II artworks at GraffitiStreet, contact us to discuss availability, acquisitions and private viewings, or visit GraffitiStreet Gallery, 25A West Street, Chichester, West Sussex, England PO19 1QW.

Photography © Galerie Mathgoth.