The idea came from tumbleweed, a plant which I often see in the lanes and farmland surrounding Torrevieja. It is strongly symbolic of a nomadic lifestyle, movement, travel, and global transition. The behaviour of the plant reflects the population of Torrevieja – constantly in flux with people traveling from across the globe, some to visit, some to put down roots. The wiriness of the stems, the tangled thorny of the stems adds a certain harshness which I have tried to capture in my sculpture, reminding us that transitions to another culture are sometimes not as simple or straightforward as we might imagine.
Like the plant, my sculpture is not static but free to move, mirroring the fact that where we live and migrate is often governed not just by choice, but by an element of chance.
The large sculpture that you see in the park was a development of a smaller piece made in the previous year. It was scaled up to better fill the large public space. Torrevieja is very multi-national with 123 different nationalities registered as permanent residents. The colour proportions of my sphere were chosen to represent the proportions of the largest nationality groups.
The sculpture is made from small pieces of recycled plastic water bottle, painted with acrylic paint and woven together with hand-dyed esparto grass. The frame is made from paper drinking straws reinforced with pincho sticks. These materials were also chosen because of their symbolism, reflecting both the contemporary tourist and hospitality industry and the traditional craft of esparto weaving and braiding emblematic of this area of the Mediterranean.
