In Miami, artist David Anasagasti is famend for his distinctive method to environmentalism. He paints on trash.
Known online and in the streets as Ahol Sniffs Glue, Anasagasti is the easy-going, bike-riding, vape-puffing dude behind Geographies of Trash, a mission during which he bikes round city, attracts on a discarded merchandise and posts it on-line for folks to choose up without cost. It’s a win-win: the town is just a little bit cleaner, and a resident will get a singular piece of artwork.
This weekend, in celebration of Geographies of Trash Day in Miami-Dade County on June 30, Anasagasti needs folks from throughout Miami-Dade and world wide to choose up trash in their very own neighborhoods, submit about it on-line and get their very personal restricted version NFT.
“Trash is common,” Anasagasti stated. “All of us make trash, and all of us want to choose some s— up.”
Till Sunday, anybody from anyplace on this planet can take part without cost, Anasagasti stated. Right here’s the way it works.
The 1st step, get some trash luggage. Step two, go outdoors and choose up some trash. Step three, movie or {photograph} your self filling up the trash luggage. Step 4, submit the proof on the Biscayne World Discord channel, a public social media platform the place Anasagasti posts concerning the Geographies of Trash mission. Becoming a member of is free and easy, the artist stated.
And that’s it. Everybody who participates will get a free, restricted version NFT paintings Anasagasti made. It’s a psychedelic dumpster with the signature Ahol Sniffs Glue eye motif on it.
Even when NFTs aren’t your vibe, Anasagasti stated a very powerful factor is getting folks outdoors to deal with their communities.
“It will get folks speaking,” he stated. “It places you within the place to indicate that you just care.”
Since he began the Geographies of Trash mission in 2021 with Florida Worldwide College’s Ratcliffe Artwork + Design Incubator, Anasagasti has developed an lively on-line neighborhood of trash-turned-art hunters who love bike using, cleansing the streets and amassing artwork.
Lately, the mission has been acknowledged by a number of native municipalities for the optimistic affect its had on the neighborhood. Final summer time, Miami-Dade County proclaimed June 30 as Geographies of Trash Day.
Anasagasti and buddies celebrated the popularity with a distant cleanup occasion final 12 months. About 20 folks participated. This 12 months, Anasagasti is hoping for much more people to become involved.
Melissa Harmon headed outdoors Friday morning to scrub up trash in her Broward neighborhood.
“Happily or sadly, there’s sufficient trash to go round that you just don’t must stroll very far,” she stated.
Harmon, a PBS principal director of content material, discovered about Geographies of Trash when she did a story on it for South Florida PBS. Anasagasti challenged her to hop on a motorbike, and he or she’s been concerned with a bunch she lovingly calls “the trash gang” ever since. Final 12 months when she participated within the distant clean-up, she discovered loads of trash within the canal by her dwelling, from building materials to quick meals packaging to even a high-end dishwashing machine.
It solely takes 5 minutes to make the streets a cleaner place, she stated.
“It reveals how simple it’s to assist,” she stated.
This story was produced with monetary help from people and Berkowitz Up to date Arts in partnership with Journalism Funding Companions, as a part of an impartial journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial management of this work.
