Joelle Jammal

Jammal is an award-winning design and advertising professional who currently works as an independent creative director and environmental artist, upcycling items into hand painted characters.

Our nature has been disfigured decade after decade. In Lebanon less than 10% of the waste is recycled. This is an alarming percentage, so I decided to act. Coming from an advertising background where an idea is key, I started making art not for the sake of art, but to fight for a dear cause: the environmental deterioration. I collect trash from packaging materials (plastic, carton, glass, metal etc.) and transform them into hand painted character sculptures. By upcycling, I give life and utility to something that has no life. In this trash crisis, change should start from home, by reducing the waste we produce, recycling and reusing what is possible. I was part of the latest protest and would have wished if we gathered all those empty water bottles thrown at the internal security officers, to form a memorable recycled art piece and not pollute more. However, on a positive note, ‘the wall of shame’ graffitis, covering the cement wall in Riyad el Solh, was a spontaneous reaction to fight the gap between the government and the protesters. Last, Thomas Edison said “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”. We think that to create something different and unique, we have to go the extra mile to find it, well sometimes common, dull things surrounding us, can become an euphoric discovery, I looked around me and found my vocation in trash.