Qatar-based Malayali sustainability artist fashions figurines of football players out of PET bottles to start a conversation about pollution

Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo, Hakkimi...all made of discarded plastic bottles. Qatar-based Malayali artist Swapna Namboodiri’s ‘PlaBots’ are designed to create awareness about pollution

PlaBots, ‘pla’ from plastic and ‘bot’ from bottles, pocket-size ‘footballers’ made of PET bottles, are the creations of Malayali artist Swapna Namboodiri from Qatar. Made of plastic and wire, these 18-centimetre figures are representations of football players — identifiable by their jerseys. As sustainability and upcycling form the core of her practice, the Doha-based artist uses one of the most common sources of pollution — PET bottles — as her medium. With Qatar hosting FIFA World Cup 2022, she saw a platform for her sustainability message.

She carries a couple of PlaBots with her, in the colours of the teams that are playing, when she either goes to watch a match or visits one of the many fan zones set up in connection with the World Cup. “If it is a match day, I take two figurines of players. While fans carry flags, I carry these PlaBots. It becomes my ‘companion’ and a conversation/interaction starter among fans, expatriates and tourists. These are easily identifiable by their jersey numbers and colours even to those who are not sports buffs.” The fans were curious about how these were made, and it gave Swapna a platform to speak about and educate them about pollution. 

She gave a Neymar figure to a dejected Brazil fan. Swapna confesses to not being a huge fan of the sport, but she wanted to do something to commemorate her ‘second home’ hosting the sporting event. Initially, she had no plans to sell these, but she has had inquiries coming her way. Later on, she plans to make larger ones, 22-centimetre figures covered with a  glass cloche, which will be on sale.

Another of her works is on display at the FIFA Fan Festival; she calls the installation, commissioned by Al Hosh, an art gallery in Qatar, ‘Re-Live Tree’. The brief was to create the work out of discarded plastic, “All textural elements were created using hundreds of single-use plastic bags to highlight the role these play in our everyday lives. The installation questions the role of plastic — are they a solution or a polluter? Also the power we, as consumers, have to responsibly use and dispose of single-use plastic responsibly.” Fashioned as sakura blooms on a live tree, she sought inspiration from the flower that symbolises renewal and optimism, “which the artwork also symbolises”.

The installation is exhibited alongside the works of other Qatari artists at the Sustainability Development Goals Pavilion of the Education Above All pavilion at the FIFA Fan Festival at Al Bidda. Swapna is the only expatriate artist whose work is on show. “It took almost a week’s time to create 80% of the textures and took two days with extended hours to complete the installation.” The installations can be viewed at the Fan Festival throughout the duration of the FIFA events, along with interactive activities, talks and panel discussions on SDG goals, which happen at the pavilion everyday. 

The former software engineer started dabbling with plastic in 2015-16, which has now grown into an art practice. Her works are represented in SaatchiArt, Artfinder and Artling, besides being part of a number of private collections. This year, she says, has been fantastic “in terms of my art practice! Recently I worked with the Ministry of Environment here in Qatar on a couple of projects. Only after completion of the works did I realise that those artworks would represent Qatar and were going to be presented to the dignitaries attending COP27 in Cairo. I’m looking forward to many more exciting projects in 2023. Especially, large-scale installations which use larger quantities of discarded materials, which I believe is more powerful in creating awareness and impact the audience.”