Pollie Barden doesn’t keep herself all bottled up when it comes to expressing her views of the world.
The 36-year-old downtown Jersey City resident and artist will officially unveil her art installation, “Bottled Project V.2,” this coming Wednesday at the Mack-Cali building on Christopher Columbus Drive. The installation is currently on display in the ground floor window of the building.
“Bottled Project V.2” is made up of 2,758 discarded plastic water bottles collected from school waste receptacles, the Hackensack and Hudson River shorelines, city streets, and neighborhood parks.
“It was a lot of fun helping her and helping the planet just an extra bit.” – Joseph Giani
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Began when she drank 1,093 bottles
Barden, a North Carolina native who has resided in Jersey City for the past four years, first began considering integrating environmental issues into art after taking a class in sustainability through New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program five years ago.
When she lived in North Carolina and after a devastating hurricane hit her hometown, she had to depend on bottled water as the town’s water system was affected, and that’s what led to her current art project.
The first creation from The Bottled Project was a collection of all the water bottles that Barden had accumulated during a year (1,093 to be exact). The lighting utilized for that project showed how one person can be responsible for so much waste.
“I was looking at the evolution of someone who would have never drank bottled water to someone who was a regular consumer,” Barden said.
That first installation debuted in 2008 at an exhibition held at Mana Fine Arts, an art storage facility in downtown Jersey City.
That installation led to her second one, specifically the current collaboration with the Jersey City Museum, who reached out to her after a museum employee saw “Bottled Project V.1” in 2008.
What the museum had in mind for Barden was to do workshops with school children in the community as an extension of Hudson Views, a 2009 exhibition at Jersey City Museum spotlighting the history of the Hudson River. School children and their teachers were recruited out of the workshops to help Barden with her project while also holding discussions on the environment and art.
“It was wonderful working with them as we get the students to the next level of expressing their opinions,” Barden said. She also said the students are still collecting bottles.
Also assisting in the project were the Hudson County Office of Cultural & Heritage Affairs/Tourism Development and Liberty State Park’s Interpretive Center. Many of the participants will be on hand for the unveiling.
The installation is part of a series known as The Bottled Project that Barden says is her “personal exploration” of the dispensable nature of modern culture.
“The installation is a commentary, to get us to question the amount of waste we are producing individually,” Barden said. “And I wanted to look at an essential resource like water, and how we paying many times over for what we can get in the tap.”
“Bottled Project V.2” will be on display until the end of June.
Kids speak out
Among the students helping Barden are those attending Learning Community Charter School on Kennedy Boulevard near Lincoln Park, in particular the members of the school’s Green Group environmental club. One of them is seventh grader Joseph Giani.
“It was a lot of fun helping her and helping the planet just an extra bit,” Giani said.
Giani’s classmate Tauseef Choudhury also appreciated taking part in the project.
“I have to say I was honored when an artist comes up to us and asks us to help her,” Choudhury said.
For more on Barden’s installation, visit www.bottledproject.org.
Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com.