Orangutan Installation at Gardens by the Bay
Portuguese street artist Bordalo II unveiled his latest monumental sculpture, New Life, at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay on 22 October 2026. The installation depicts a mother Sumatran orangutan and her baby, standing seven metres high and six metres wide. The sculpture occupies the SG50 Lattice at Bayfront Pavilion and is scheduled to remain on public display for four years. This work marks the artist’s return to the city, following a monumental Sumatran tiger installation at the same location four years prior, GraffitiStreet reported.
Construction Using Four Tonnes of Singaporean Waste
The sculpture is composed of approximately four to five tonnes of discarded materials collected from across Singapore. Bordalo II and his team spent two weeks on-site assembling the work, which features items including decommissioned bins, road barriers, car parts, playground equipment, old luggage, and various domestic objects.
By layering these materials, the artist reconstructs the form and texture of the great apes while leaving the original objects recognizable. This process serves as a central theme in the artist’s work, which highlights the contradiction of using the very materials associated with consumption and land clearance to build representations of endangered species.
Excavator Sculpture Highlights Habitat Loss
A defining feature of New Life is the inclusion of an excavator arm within the composition. The baby orangutan is positioned hanging from this piece of machinery, a design choice intended to make the connection between industrial land clearance and habitat loss explicit.
The pairing of an adult and a young animal shifts the artist’s focus toward the concept of inheritance. Unlike his past works, which often featured solitary animals, this installation frames the environmental crisis as a generational issue. The sculpture serves as the centerpiece for a four-year sustainability initiative developed by Singlife, with WWF-Singapore participating as a sustainability partner.
Evolution of Trash-Based Sculptural Language
Bordalo II’s career, which moved from Lisbon’s graffiti scene to large-scale sculptural installations, has increasingly integrated narrative complexity. In 2015, the artist created a four-metre London Trash Rat for an exhibition in Shoreditch, utilizing street debris to form the animal’s body.
The transition from single-animal portraits to multi-generational scenes, such as this Singapore installation and his recent Flamingos da Ria Formosa in Portugal, demonstrates a shift in his practice. While the fundamental technique of repurposing waste remains consistent, the artist is now using these forms to pose questions about the environmental legacy left for future generations.
Questions Regarding Future Sustainability Initiatives
How long will the orangutan sculpture remain at Gardens by the Bay?
The installation is scheduled to stay at the SG50 Lattice at Bayfront Pavilion for four years, serving as the focal point of the Singlife sustainability program.
Where did the materials for the sculpture come from?
The four to five tonnes of waste used in the construction were gathered from across Singapore, consisting of discarded items like car parts, playground equipment, and road barriers.
What does the inclusion of the excavator arm represent?
The excavator arm represents the industrial machinery used in land clearance, directly linking the sculpture to the threats facing the Sumatran orangutan’s natural forest habitat.
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