After months of collecting and recycling plastic bottles, a massive trash-art sculpture of Christ was erected at the Ta' Pinu basilica in Gozo on Friday.

It will be exhibited for three months.

In "trash-art" artists repurpose items that are usually thrown away to create art. 

The climate-themed image of Christ was made from empty plastic bottles, all sourced locally, highlighting the alarming scale of plastic consumption on the small island.

The bottles were recycled by residents or picked up in clean-ups around Gozo organised by the Cast-Out project over the summer. The bottles collected during these "litter-pick" events were cleaned to be used in the art piece. Volunteers aged between five and 76 turned up for the regular clean-ups.

“We hope our Christ can change people’s mindset.”- Jo Curtis

Environmental artist Joseph Barbara working on the art installation. Photo: Martin Pillow

The 4.5 by four metres installation was created by Maltese environmental artist Joseph Barbara. For over 30 years, Barbara has been recycling used plastic materials transforming them into art. 

Back in 2007, he had also made Malta’s first eco-Christmas tree, using 4,000 used plastic drink bottles.

“The Cast-Out Project is a call for people to realise the harm plastic pollution has on our environment, and while it is scary, together we can make a change and also something beautiful,” project manager Jo Curtis told Times of Malta.

Curtis made a link between the name of the project and Christ. 

“The name refers to the way we discard our plastic bottles and rubbish. Christ was also cast out by man and crucified, but he was resurrected again. The plastic bottles are reused, therefore reborn once again, like Christ.”

“We hope our Christ can change people’s mindset,” she said.

Curtis said that, over the summer, volunteers collected over 451 bags of rubbish from their weekly litter-picking events.

A group of volunteers after a litter-picking event at Ulysses Grove, Xewkija.

This is not Curtis' first art project. Back in 2012, she had set up a massive art installation to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, known as "The People's Monarch".

For this installation, 5,000 people had become part of a huge work of art through their personal photos which were used in a giant photo-mosaic portrait of her majesty. 

As she had done then, when the idea of a Christ trash-art installation came to her, she worked directly with the artist and managed the project.

“Our main message will be that the bottles used for this art project could have been left in our countryside. We hope this piece will make people think about using plastic more wisely and to be more environmentally aware of the harms it has on our environment.”

Although the Cast-Out Project reached its target number of bottles for the installation, Curtis said the weekly litter-picking events will continue. 

“The two volunteer groups we set up are enthusiastic and love the activity, knowing they are doing their bit to help improve their environment and planet.”

Curtis hopes that when the three months at Ta' Pinu are over for the art piece, it will find a "forever home". 

“Even if we do not manage to find a long-term place for the piece, the plastic bottles are secured without any adhesives, so they can be recycled once again with minimal environmental impact."

The campaign is being funded by the Ministry for Gozo and supported by the European Parliament Liaison Office in Malta and the Queen Mary University of London Malta Campus, together with Pillow Spaceframe Ltd and the Melita Foundation.