On Spain’s Northern Coast, the netizens are in shock as they witnessed a girl drowning in the mid of Bilbao’s Nervion River. Upon a closer look, it wasn’t a girl but a huge girl lookalike statue left unattended in the river. The head of a young girl was nearly submerged as the water covered her head, nose, and ears.
When the locals asked authorities about it, they realized that its a masterpiece by Mexican hyperrealist artist Ruben Orozco Loza. The 120-kilogram girl statue is named ‘Bihar’ which means ‘Tomorrow’ in the Basque language. The statue was built for a campaign by the BBK Foundation, the charitable arm of Spanish lender Kutxabank to raise awareness about sustainability.
“Their actions can sink us or keep us afloat. I hope that this piece helps people reflect and see how, like the sculpture, we can get to a point where we are no longer afloat,” says the artist in an interview with the Spanish news website Neus.
The artists do not symbolize the statue with climate change but emphasize that it’s a reflection of the decisions we make for the future. As tides rise and fall, the huge statue is drowned and uncovered each day reminding people about their day-to-day actions.
The statue was installed without warning at dawn so that nobody witness it beforehand. Loza took around three months to complete the project and crafted the design in Mexico with the help of his wife. The lifelike statue was brought in pieces by boat and assembled in the lake. The steel structures keep everything submerged and only the face remains uncovered.
The ‘Bihar’ statue is made by resin and fiberglass, rather than paint, and Lozo used translucent resin for the sculpture. And this isnt the first time Lozo worked for the BBK Foundation, before this he has helped make a life size statue of woman sitting on a park bench in collaboration with Alcantara.
The world today is on the verge of a climate crisis and the energy problem is yet another issue concerning climate activists across the globe. It is predicted that by the end of this century, the world would witness the worst and worst climate change effects. As a matter of fact, we are the last generation left to do something about it. A report published by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that from 1908 to 2018, the world’s seas rose by half a foot on average that is thrice the usual rate. At this point, the majority of the coastal cities bear a brunt of repercussions that can’t be revoked.
Thus young people today are much concerned about the issue and are constantly doing their bit to end the climate catastrophe. Ruben Orozco Loza’s’ Bihar’ statue is yet another approach in handling the crises. With this, he hopes that people can become more aware of the consequences of their actions.
“At first it gave me a feeling of stress when more of the face was out of the water, but now to me she communicates sadness, a lot of sadness.” says a visitor.
Earth’s climate has changed dramatically many times since the planet was formed 4.5 billion years ago. These changes have been triggered by the changing configuration of continents and oceans, changes in the Sun’s intensity, variations in the orbit of Earth, and volcanic eruptions.
But major reason remains constant- mankind, burning fossil fuels, releasing chemicals into the atmosphere, reducing the amount of forest cover, the rapid expansion of farming, development and industrial activities releasing carbon dioxide, and human activities have increased greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere.
Thus the world needs to start acting and so something about this rampant change in the climate.
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