Turning Trash into… A Boat

One pair of filmmakers wants to bring attention to the Hudson River. Why this river? Located near one of the busiest and most bustling cities in the United States, New York’s Hudson River is currently the 33^rd most polluted river in the country. Despite its polluted waters, the Hudson River used to be as clean and beautiful as where the river begins, the Adirondack Mountains. The goal of James Bowthorpe and Antony Crook is to bring attention to the current state of this body of water, not by being overly pushy about what is happening to the environment, but instead by artistically fashioning an object to get people’s attention.

In September of this year, Bowthorpe and Crook plan on sailing the Hudson on nothing other than a boat built out of trash. They will film their journey and create a documentary on the process. In a matter of just 2 weeks, the filmmakers plan on both gathering waste materials and building the ten foot boat. They will work with the Hudson River Foundation to meet the river’s guardians as well as discuss with New York locals why they are going about this endeavor. By getting more people involved in the process, James Bowthorpe and Antony Crook have accumulated a $300,000 budget for their documentary. James Bowthorpe explains, “Trash is a sort of natural byproduct of any ecosystem. I don’t think you can have an ecosystem without waste. It just depends on what you do with that waste and how you handle it.”

What I appreciate about Bowthorpe and Crook is how they approach an ecological situation and bring it to everyone’s attention. They are not accusing our world of being too wasteful and not pushing everyone to “go green”, but they instead are bringing trash into people’s awareness by utilizing and repurposing it. I see what they are doing as an art: creating something beautiful that sends a powerful message to their viewers.

What do you think about this project? Are there more wasteful areas around us that once used to be clean and beautiful?

Written by: Katie Coughlan