Plastik Talks
Plastik Talks is a registered Ugandan Community-Based Organisation founded by Arinitwe Peter to use visual arts as a way to engage the youth in Uganda to fight for their environment. We have a physical community centre in Kampala dedicated to cleaning up the environment and showing people how to sort and reuse waste.
Our motto is 'less talk, more action'.
Our story
Artivism to beat pollution
We established Plastik Talks in July 2021 on the grounds of a community dumpsite. In 6 months we cleared the ground the size of a football pitch, and have slowly engaged people living here around need to fight pollution.
We use 'artivism' to leave lasting messages, running art-based workshops, practical demonstrations, public campaigns using the visual arts, mural paintings and creative installations to engage all no matter age, sex or status.
Our residence centre and gardens
In 6 months, our team of volunteers cleared and built the Plastik Talks home centre. We created the residence centre made from >2000 plastic bottles, installed artistic objects, painted the grounds with giant murals with local artists. We have sorting areas for recyclables, non-recyclables and organic waste. We are now exploring wealth-from-waste initiatives for the community
Art-based workshops
We conduct on-site workshops with students to use visual arts and storytelling to engage them in environmental activism. We make practical things like bathrooms, waste bins, art pieces to show what is possible from trash and to inspire more people to join the creative plastic revolution
Educational campaigns
We have done campaigns on-site and off-site in East Africa, always using visual arts and practical demonstrations to show the community creative ways to recycle their trash
Campaigns
Running campaigns like World Environment Day 2022 to engage the traders, fishermen at Ggaba market using visual arts and ‘edutainment’ to engage people in our message. We presented all our information through Art: fashion, music, dance and poetry, including a talking frog waste installation to capture passers by attention and get them asking 'why'
Maisha festival – Alliance Francaise
The Maisha ('environment') festival in Arusha Tanzania focussed on using art and culture to engage the community. We created a giant mural on one of the primary schools in Arusha as well as a public installation of a falling giraffe to represent the need to protect wildlife and tourism from the impact of pollution.
Save Lake Victoria - Installation Series
Thousands of dead Nile Perch fish wash up on the shores of the Lake Victoria each month, starved of oxygen and studies showing 1 in 5 contain plastics in their guts. This installation was commissioned as part of The Flipflopi/UNEP Lake Victoria expedition as part of a series of 3 planted in the 3 lakeshore countries: Kisumu, Kenya; Kampala, Uganda and Mwanza, Tanzania. Designed to leave a lasting imprint on the minds of the lakeshore community – we must save lake Victoria.
Artivist Murals
Arinitwe collaborates with other local artists to produce giant murals to bring our message to the community #onlyoneworld