Bordalo II’s Trash Seagull at FatBoy Slims Big Beach Cafe, Hove 2018
Portuguese artist Bordalo II brought his celebrated Big Trash Animals to the Brighton & Hove coastline with a monumental Trash Seagull created at Fatboy Slim’s Big Beach Cafe beside Hove Lagoon.
Made from discarded plastics and urban waste, the sculpture connected Bordalo II’s environmental practice directly to its seaside location, transforming a familiar coastal bird into a striking reflection on consumption, plastic pollution and the health of our oceans.
Bordalo II’s Trash Seagull at the Big Beach Cafe, Hove. Image copyright GraffitiStreet.
Bordalo II’s Big Trash Animals and Plastic Pollution
Bordalo II’s Big Trash Animals use discarded plastics, car parts and other unwanted materials to recreate wildlife affected by human consumption and pollution. The waste remains deliberately visible, allowing the materials themselves to become part of the environmental message.
At Hove Lagoon, that idea feels particularly relevant. Positioned beside the coast, the Trash Seagull draws attention to the relationship between disposable materials, marine pollution and the wildlife sharing our beaches and seas.
Why Bordalo II Chose a Seagull for Brighton & Hove
The seagull is an unmistakable presence along the Brighton & Hove coastline, making it a natural subject for a sculpture rooted so closely in place. The bird also carries another local association through Brighton & Hove Albion, whose supporters and team are widely known as the Seagulls.
Whether chosen for its coastal familiarity, its local cultural connections or both, Bordalo II turned an everyday Brighton bird into an environmental symbol that belongs unmistakably to the city.
Made From Brighton & Hove’s Waste
Bordalo II created the Trash Seagull in just two days, using discarded objects and plastics gathered locally and stored ahead of the installation at DJ Norman Cook’s property.
The local sourcing is central to Bordalo II’s practice. Rather than importing anonymous materials, he frequently works with waste collected around the location of the artwork, allowing each sculpture to carry traces of the community and consumption patterns from which it emerged.
The Hove seagull was therefore created for Brighton & Hove and, quite literally, made from Brighton & Hove.
Art, Community and a Cleaner Coast
The setting at the Big Beach Cafe also connected Bordalo II’s environmental message with local action. The cafe has supported community activity around Hove Lagoon, including beach-cleaning initiatives associated with Surfers Against Sewage.
Placed within this coastal setting, the Trash Seagull became more than an isolated sculpture. It formed part of a wider conversation about plastic waste, cleaner beaches and the responsibility communities share for protecting marine environments.
Bordalo II at Hove Lagoon
The Big Beach Cafe has long had a strong community character, making it an unusually fitting home for Bordalo II’s work. Visitors encountering the giant seagull beside Hove Lagoon are presented with an animal they know intimately, reconstructed from the discarded materials that increasingly threaten coastal ecosystems.
That combination of humour, familiarity and environmental unease is central to the power of Bordalo II’s Big Trash Animals.
From Hove to Bordalo II’s Wider Marine Trash Animals
The Hove Trash Seagull forms an important chapter in Bordalo II’s exploration of marine life and coastal environments. GraffitiStreet’s wider feature on Bordalo II and the Sea traces how discarded materials and ocean pollution recur throughout this side of his practice.
Later works including the Trash Sharks in Tahiti and Balloon Fish in Trafaria carry the same confrontation between marine life and human waste into very different coastal environments.
Discover Bordalo II at GraffitiStreet
Discover available Bordalo II artworks at GraffitiStreet, contact us to discuss acquisitions and private viewings, or visit GraffitiStreet Gallery, 25A West Street, Chichester, West Sussex, England PO19 1QW.
Images copyright GraffitiStreet.
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