The Indian creatives turning e-waste into art

Four sculptors and painters are raising awareness of the need to recycle electronic devices and appliances

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  Bengaluru artist Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere with his Egyptian bust piece created from e-waste. Photo: Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere

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  Davangere likes to dismantle old laptops, floppy disks, speakers, medical equipment set top boxes and mobile phones. Photo: Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere

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  Davangere's Floral Mandala, created using old hardware. Photo: Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere

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  Davangere in his studio. Photo: Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere

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  E-waste artist Haribaabu Naatesan. Photo: Haribaabu Naatesan

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  Rahul Pareek creates portraits of celebrities using e-waste donated by members of his local community. Photo: Rahul Pareek

Have you ever wondered what happens to your mobile phones and laptops after you throw them out to make way for a newer model? The United Nations estimates that the world produces more than 50 million tonnes of e-waste every year – most of which ends up in landfill.

According to its latest Global E-Waste Monitor, India is the third top producer of e-waste in the world, generating more than three million tonnes per annum. E-waste in Indian landfill goes on to contaminate soil and groundwater, affecting food supply systems and water sources, according to a study in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine.

Thankfully, the country has a new breed of artists who are converting these discarded items – from mobile phones to mother boards, and speakers to old televisions – into large murals and artworks.

Artist Haribaabu Naatesan has repurposed hundreds of tonnes of e-waste into art. Photo: Haribaabu Naatesan

Over the past quarter of a century, Mumbai's Haribaabu Naatesan has transformed hundreds of tonnes of e-waste into art. Naatesan produces mechanical installations, blending imagery from nature and industry to create commentary on consumerism and waste.

"I get my scrap material from friends, relatives and neighbours who, knowing my interest in e-art send me bags of discarded electronic appliances, says Naatesan. "I buy larger quantities, like a tonne, for large installations, from the Sakinaka market. I love what I do as there is always something new to learn."

Over his career, he has created huge murals and cityscapes for several corporations, including one of a whale measuring about 17 metres by six metres for the aquatic museum Science City in Ahmedabad. He has also exhibited his work at the India Art Fair in Delhi, as well as several other exhibitions.

“I was always into creating figures and sculptures that moved and had even made crabs out of scrap for my interview for the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.”

Haribaabu Naatesan's e-waste work titled Comfortably Numb. Photo: Haribaabu Naatesan

Many of his more recent artworks feature an interactive element – when viewers approach his installations, some of the components come alive, with sensors blinking on and fans rotating. The titles of his works are also evocative – his ghostly mixed-media work Comfortably Numb brings to mind the Pink Floyd song of the same name, while Remembrance, incorporates otherwise obsolete parts including old floppy disks, CDs and turbines from discarded washing machines. Another, Trinity, uses circuits retrieved from old computer motherboards.

The artist called his company Fossils as, he says, thousands of years from now, when people excavate motherboards and electronic waste, they will probably consider them fossils. Among his most famous productions is a Volkswagen Beetle made of more than 2,800 pieces of scrap, including motherboards, cassettes and spark plugs.

Bengaluru artist Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere has also long worked with e-waste, a passion that was sparked while he was working at an IT firm. The son of famed sculptor and painter D M Shambhu, Davangere likes to dismantle old laptops, floppy disks, speakers, medical equipment set top boxes and mobile phones and reassemble them into birds, animals, flowers and plants.

Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere's eco-art mural depicting a Vastu Purusha Mandala. Photo: Vishwanath Mallabadi Davangere

After retirement, he started pursuing this hobby more seriously and started selling his creations across the world. One of his most outstanding works is a piece inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night, using upcycled resistors on wood, which was later coated with clear epoxy resin. Other key creations include a robotic Egyptian bust with glowing red eyes; a Milky Way made from cables and keyboard keys; and a Vastu Purusha Mandala – an ancient Indian metaphysical architecture and design planning system – crafted with deconstructed computer components.

Davangere starts his projects by dismantling e-waste devices at a micro level; extracting minute parts and segregating them into separate bins based on their size, texture, shape and colour. To streamline the design process, he also digitises each piece, creating a digital repository that facilitates the creation of two to three alternative mock-up designs.

“I find myself captivated by the extraordinary textures, vibrant colours and diverse shapes offered by electronic components such as resistors and PCBs. The remarkable texture of keyboard mylar sheets, capacitors, SFPs, copper coils, colourful wires and inductors, to name just a few. The possibilities seem endless when it comes to exploring the vast array of materials available from e-waste,” he says.

“Through my creative process, I breathe new life into old and forgotten gadgets, showcasing their hidden beauty in unique and imaginative ways. By giving e-waste a second chance, I aim to raise awareness about the environmental impact of electronic disposal and promote sustainable practices.

Vishwanath Mallabadi's art installation in the Bengaluru Metro. Photo: Vishwanath Mallabadi

"With each artwork I create, I strive to convey a powerful message about the importance of upcycling and reducing electronic waste. By showcasing the artistic potential of these discarded materials, I hope to inspire others to reconsider their own consumption habits and make more environmentally conscious choices,” says Davangare, who today has a collection of more than 600 eco art objects.

Rahul Pareek, a student in Guwahati in India’s North East state of Assam, uses discarded cables, motherboards and dismantled mobile phones to make portraits of famous people, such as cricketers and politicians.

Those in his neighbourhood, from shopkeepers to mechanics, save their e-waste for him, knowing he will put it to good use. "Since my childhood, I have been passionate about electronic gadgets and art, so I have been mixing them together in my work for many years," he says.

Finally, Jaipur artist Mukesh Kumar Jwala assembled more than 250 desktops and 200 motherboards – cut into thousands of pieces – with rivets and 9,000-plus screws to make a 10-foot-tall statue for the State Bank of India.

Communicating a commitment to the environment, the work presents the SBI logo over the face of a woman seated at the top of a 1.5-metre-high platform. He and his team took one month to produce the work, using e-waste from various branches of the bank.