Bordalo II’s Trash Animal ‘Panda’: A Symbol of Waste and Wake-Up Calls
GraffitiStreet presented Bordalo II’s Neutral FX Panda as part of our Concrete & Colour exhibition in Chichester. Created from discarded plastics, wood, toys, electronics and other found objects, the unique sculpture transforms the remnants of consumer culture into one of the world’s most recognisable animals.
Viewed from a distance, the Panda appears surprisingly soft and familiar. Move closer and that illusion begins to unravel. A black rotary telephone, red cable, old mobile phone, discarded toys and other forgotten objects emerge from its surface, revealing the waste from which the animal has been constructed.
View Bordalo II’s Neutral FX Panda
Bordalo II, Neutral FX Panda, 2025, featured in Concrete & Colour at GraffitiStreet Gallery, Chichester. Image © GraffitiStreet.
Bordalo II’s Panda as a Wake-Up Call
Bordalo II’s Neutral FX Panda belongs to the environmental language of his celebrated Big Trash Animals, in which animals are reconstructed from the materials associated with excessive consumption, pollution and waste.
The Panda rewards close looking. A black rotary telephone sits within the face, while its vivid red cable loops around the head like an improvised headset. An old mobile phone appears among nostalgic toys, including Hello Kitty, while faded stuffed animals and fragments of plastic reveal objects that were once wanted, used and eventually discarded.
Seen together, these remnants create a striking contradiction. The animal feels expressive and alive, yet its body is composed from evidence of human consumption.
Bordalo II’s Panda Featured in Concrete & Colour, GraffitiStreet Gallery, Chichester. Image copyright GraffitiStreet
Why the Trash Panda Matters
The giant panda has become one of the most recognisable symbols of wildlife conservation, making Bordalo II’s choice particularly resonant. Here, the animal becomes a lens through which to consider the relationship between the natural world and the enormous quantity of manufactured material humans produce and discard.
The telephone embedded within the sculpture adds another intriguing layer. Encountered in person at GraffitiStreet Gallery, its placement reads almost like a literal wake-up call, buried within an animal whose body records decades of changing technologies, toys and consumer objects.
Bordalo II’s Panda Featured in Concrete & Colour, GraffitiStreet Gallery, Chichester. Image copyright GraffitiStreet
That physical detail is difficult to appreciate fully through a photograph. Standing close to the sculpture, the eye continually moves between the Panda as an animal and the individual objects from which it has been assembled.
Bordalo II’s Panda Featured in Concrete & Colour, GraffitiStreet Gallery, Chichester. Image copyright GraffitiStreet
Neutral FX Panda at GraffitiStreet Gallery
GraffitiStreet exhibited Neutral FX Panda during Concrete & Colour in Chichester in 2025, bringing the material language of Bordalo II’s monumental outdoor animals into the intimacy of the gallery.
At approximately 121 × 107 × 25 cm, the unique work allowed visitors to examine Bordalo II’s construction at unusually close range, discovering objects and textures that gradually reveal themselves within the animal’s face.
One of our younger visitors described the Panda simply as “cute with kind eyes.” It was a wonderfully instinctive response to a work that operates on several levels at once. The animal draws us in through familiarity and character, while the materials underneath quietly reveal a more uncomfortable story about what we consume and leave behind.
Bordalo II’s Panda Featured in Concrete & Colour, GraffitiStreet Gallery, Chichester. Image copyright GraffitiStreet
Related Reading
For a deeper exploration of the materials, meaning and environmental ideas behind the series, read GraffitiStreet’s complete guide to Bordalo II’s Big Trash Animals and follow their development through Neutral, Half-Half and Plastic. Our London Trash Rat also records GraffitiStreet’s first-hand collaboration with Bordalo II during the early development of this extraordinary body of work.
Explore Concrete & Colour
For the wider exhibition context, explore Concrete & Colour or experience the exhibition through GraffitiStreet’s 3D virtual tour.
Explore Bordalo II artworks at GraffitiStreet, including current editions and available works, or contact us directly for acquisitions, sourcing and private collector enquiries.
You can also visit GraffitiStreet Gallery, 25A West Street, Chichester, West Sussex, England PO19 1QW to discover our current programme of urban and contemporary art.
Images © GraffitiStreet