Bordalo II’s London Trash Rat: From East London Waste to Underground Street Art

Bordalo II‘s London Rat was created for GraffitiStreet’s Underground Group Show in Shoreditch in 2015, transforming discarded materials collected across East London into a monumental trash animal sculpture. Built by Portuguese artist Artur Bordalo, the work connected the hidden architecture of London with the environmental force of Bordalo II’s Big Trash Animals, turning local waste into a powerful image of urban survival, street art culture and ecological responsibility.

Bordalo II – Rat Big Trash Animal. Image copyright GraffitiStreet

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Who Is Bordalo II?

Bordalo II, born Artur Bordalo in Lisbon in 1987, is a Portuguese contemporary artist living and working in Lisbon whose practice moves between sculpture, assemblage, street art and environmental intervention. His artistic name pays tribute to his grandfather, the painter Real Bordalo, carrying that family legacy into a radically different visual language shaped by discarded materials and the contemporary city.

Emerging through graffiti and urban culture, Bordalo II developed a practice centred on transforming waste into art. His best-known Big Trash Animals use plastics, vehicle parts, tyres and other discarded materials to depict wildlife, creating a deliberate tension between the animals represented and the materials associated with pollution and environmental damage. Bordalo II’s official archive now divides the series into approaches including Neutral, Half-Half and Plastic, showing how the language has continued to evolve since those early London years.

Big Trash Animal By Bordalo II. Image copyright Bordalo II

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Bordalo II and the Big Trash Animals

Bordalo II is best known for his Big Trash Animals, a series of large-scale animal sculptures made from discarded materials. Old car bumpers, worn rubber tyres, broken plastics, scrap metal and other urban debris are cut, layered, painted and transformed into extraordinary three-dimensional portraits of animals.

The message is direct, but never simplistic. Bordalo II uses waste to depict the creatures most affected by pollution, overconsumption and habitat destruction. His materials are not hidden behind the artwork. They remain part of its meaning. The animal draws us closer, while the trash reminds us of the systems that continue to damage the natural world.

The result is street art with both beauty and consequence. His works ask us to be more thoughtful and resourceful with waste, while recognising that rubbish is far more than an aesthetic problem. It is an environmental one.

Big Trash Animal By Bordalo II. Image copyright Bordalo II

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Bordalo II London Rat at GraffitiStreet’s Underground Group Show

Bordalo II had certainly caught our attention, so we invited him to London to create a Big Trash Animal for GraffitiStreet’s Underground Group Show in Shoreditch on 2 July 2015.

For the exhibition, Bordalo II created a monumental London Trash Rat, standing approximately four metres high. It was the perfect animal for the setting. The rat belongs to the hidden architecture of the city: tunnels, basements, service routes, back alleys and the underground spaces most people pass through without really seeing. Within the old underground atmosphere of the show, the work felt completely at home.

For us, there was also a quiet nod to Banksy in the choice of subject and to the rat’s enduring place within street art culture. Bordalo II, however, took that familiar urban creature somewhere materially different. This rat was not painted onto the city. It was built from the city.

The Bordalo II London Rat, Shoreditch, East London. Image copyright GraffitiStreet

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How Bordalo II London Rat Was Made From East London Waste

True to Bordalo II’s practice, the London Trash Rat was made from materials collected in East London. The waste included car bumpers, bike helmets, a sofa chair, an empty fire extinguisher, plastics and other discarded objects gathered from the surrounding urban environment.

That local connection mattered. Bordalo II often works with materials found in the area where the artwork is created, allowing the final sculpture to carry the physical identity of its location. In this case, the London Trash Rat was not only made for the city. It was made from the city.

The process revealed the physical intelligence behind Bordalo II’s work. Before the animal appeared, there was the search, the collecting, the sorting and the understanding of each object’s potential. Materials that had already passed through systems of use and abandonment were given a new form, becoming part of an animal that felt alert, monumental and alive.

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Watching the London Trash Rat Come to Life

Bordalo II got straight to work with our GraffitiStreet carpenter James Taylor, and it was a pleasure to watch one of his Big Trash Animals come together right before our eyes.

The scale of the work demanded space, patience and instinct. The studio had to be large enough and tall enough to hold the animal as it emerged from the collected waste. Over the course of the project, discarded objects were studied, cut, arranged, layered and fixed into place until the rat began to take shape.

This is where Bordalo II’s practice becomes especially powerful. The materials are not simply attached to a structure. They are composed. Each object carries its previous life, yet becomes part of a new one. The finished work holds that tension beautifully: waste and wildlife, humour and warning, street culture and ecological urgency.

The Bordalo II London Rat remains one of GraffitiStreet’s most memorable early collaborations with the Portuguese artist. Image copyright GraffitiStreet

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GraffitiStreet Perspective

“The London Rat felt completely at home in that underground setting, with a quiet nod to Banksy and the rat’s long-standing place in street art culture. What stayed with me was seeing discarded materials from East London transformed into this monumental creature, as though it had emerged from the hidden spaces beneath the city itself.” Donna Haden, GraffitiStreet Co-Founder

Working with Bordalo II on the London Trash Rat remains a powerful memory for GraffitiStreet. It gave us a close view of the labour, imagination and material sensitivity behind his practice.

Bordalo II’s London Rat, a Big Trash Animal made from local waste for GraffitiStreet’s London exhibition. Image copyright GraffitiStreet.

The London Rat belongs to the formative history of Bordalo II’s Big Trash Animals, while GraffitiStreet’s earlier feature, Waste Not, Want Not, captures the series at the moment it was establishing its international visual language.

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Discover Bordalo II at GraffitiStreet

Discover available Bordalo II artworks at GraffitiStreet, or contact us to discuss availability, acquisitions and private viewings. You can also experience selected works in person at GraffitiStreet Gallery, 25A West Street, Chichester, West Sussex, England PO19 1QW.

Explore Bordalo II Artworks | Contact GraffitiStreet | Visit the Gallery