Photos: Meet a 'craftivist' who explains world crises through plastic figurines

Edgar Alvarez, Colombian artist and activist, and creator of "I explain it with plasticine," models a clay figure of a Venezuelan migrant. The ‘craftivist’ based in Bogota works with plasticine figures, through which he explains and highlights the issues in the Andean region in recent years.

Alvarez has devoted his life to ‘explaining’ present affairs and elevating consciousness among the many inhabitants, he works underneath the identify Se Lo Explico con Plastilina, which interprets to ‘I clarify with plastic’ and has racked hundreds of followers on his social media.

A clay figure of the microscopic view of the coronavirus made by Edgar Alvarez. Alvarez’s clay artwork symbolises the very actual wrestle of the residents affected by the coronavirus, and could be discovered all throughout town typically near down-on-their-luck residents, whom the artwork mirrors

Craftivism is a mixture between crafts/arts and activism, which often revolves across the themes of anti-capitalism, environmentalism, solidarity or third-wave feminism, however is expressed via artwork.

“This (pandemic) has changed us, so it is essential to be able to depict the people who are struggling amid the pandemic and that is where I come in to explain it with clay plasticine", said Alvarz.

Alvarez love for plasticine began as a recreation with the flour for arepas (a sort of bread made with floor maize and typical to the delicacies of Colombia and Venezuela) that his grandmother used and ended up changing into his lifelong ardour.

“I began like many kids at school making balls and sticks with my grandparents, who preferred to work with dough, my grandmother particularly who made arepas so I preferred to make dolls with the flour for the arepas. After faculty, I labored lots with clay, however then I found animation,” said Alvarez.

Alvarez has at all times used his art to unfold information, spotlight a problem and elevate consciousness, and in 2015, the artist labored on a brief movie about the homeless inhabitants of Los Angeles, California titled Los Invisibles venture, which received awards for animation.