Something Strange, 2004
Sculpture made as homage to local resident ‘Bottle Eric’ and his recycling efforts

Thirteen faculty from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design were invited to make a group exhibition for the Aine Art Museum in Tornio in Finland, near the Arctic Circle. I made a reconnaissance trip to Tornio in August 2003 and returned to make work for the exhibition in February 2004. On my August visit I noticed many elderly people trundling around the town centre on mobility aids which they called rollaattori. I spotted one of these rollaattori, parked outside the supermarket, covered entirely in bulging plastic shopping bags, like some extraordinary bulbous vehicle. I discovered that this vehicle belonged to someone called Pullo Erkki (Bottle Eric) and the bags were filled with material, which he regularly collected for recycling.

I thought of Pullo Erkki as the eco-warrior, clearing debris from the edge of the Arctic Circle and decided to make a work in tribute to him. I obtained my own rollaattori and solicited plastic shopping bags for every retail outlet in Tornio, which I packed with local newspapers in order to build my own sculptural version of Bottle Eric's chariot, which was my site specific sculptural response to Tornio.