Installed as a beacon of hope in difficult times Rainbow Tree takes Telegraph Hill back to its roots as a signalling station. Celebrating community, connection and collaboration, inspiring our imaginations to thoughts of a brighter, more compassionate, caring future. The Rainbow Tree was installed on the top of the Telegraph Hill Centre for Christmas, but, due to popular demand, it will stay up until 2^nd February 20.

The plastic poster tubes used to create Rainbow Christmas Tree were rescued from the recycling after a corporate marketing mail out was cancelled. The structure was inspired by the hexagonal organic carbon ring molecules from which the plastic is made and the substance itself. Plastic is a polymer which comes from the Greek ‘poly’ meaning many and ‘mer’ meaning unit. The natural hexagonal shape of the carbon ring is extrapolated from micro to macro to create a robust and elegant sculpture.

Angela McMahon works with discarded materials to create beautiful and thought-provoking sculptures, installations and drawings that cast a spotlight on the environmental footprints and dilemmas of the Anthropocene consumer society.

Lower Marsh Plaza, Waterloo SE1 7AY

SustainabiliTree was designed and built by SE London artist Angela McMahon to provide an alternative Christmas tree that supports the drive for sustainability in the We Are Waterloo Business Improvement District. It offers a visceral experience of something we might normally just throw away and an opportunity to reflect. The simplicity of the ethereal green glow provides a calm haven from our contemporary ideas of Christmas, a visually succinct alternative for a celebration originally designed to bring colour and light to the dark, cold winter months. It stands as a beacon for our times as we consider the future and our environmental impact on planet earth.

Angela McMahon has always worked with discarded materials to create beautiful and thought-provoking sculptures, installations and drawings that cast a spotlight on the environmental footprints and dilemmas of the Anthropocene consumer society. The plastic poster tubes used to create SustainabiliTree were rescued from the recycling after a corporate marketing mail out was cancelled. The structure was inspired by the hexagonal patterns in nature, the organic carbon ring molecules from which the plastic is made and the substance itself. Plastic is a polymer which comes from the Greek ‘poly’ which means many and ‘mer’ which means unit. The hexagonal shape of the carbon ring is found elsewhere in nature and is here extrapolated from micro to macro to form the robust and elegant hexagonal packing used to make the SustainabiliTree sculpture.

Thanks to my fabulous team Stuart Leeser, Carl Ramm, David White.

Mini-tree model pack instructions

Tragic Harvest 2018

This installation for the Telegraph Hill Festival was designed in collaboration with Sara Willett. The work includes fantastical and strange sea creatures suspended above the ground, as if floating in the sea. These are imagined, strange and bizarre creatures that might emerge from a sea polluted by plastic. Ghosts of creatures we may lose or have lost from pollution or futuristic, inedible mutant creatures that might evolve in the mass of floating plastic if we continue to put plastic into the oceans. Fishing nets of plastic waste symbolise the harvest that awaits.

This is a collaborative project. The local community, including schools, youth groups, older peoples’ groups, individuals, artists (anyone) are encouraged to participate by making their own plastic creature to add to the installation.

By collecting and making something with plastic, we are engaging with it, noticing all the different types and colours, contemplating our relationship with it and how ubiquitous it is in our lives. We get a visceral experience of something we normally just throw away. The installation is a visual metaphor, by coming together as a community we can make something big happen – exactly what we need to do with plastic waste.

All the plastic used in the installation will be recycled afterwards.

http://telegraphhillfestival.org.uk/tragic-harvest-dont-waste-day/