Art students use trash plucked off Rio coast to call attention to Olympic city’s water woes

RIO DE JANEIRO – Art students at a Brazilian university have taken advantage of the trash they have in endless supply to create an exhibition that aims to draw attention to the fetid state of Rio de Janeiro’s Guanabara Bay, where Olympic sailing events are to be held next year.

Around 30 students at the Rio de Janeiro Federal University used plastic bottles, tires, old flip flops, plastic helmets, scratched CDs, old tubes and plastic supermarket bags to make sculptures of ocean fauna including an octopus and dolphins.

With poor trash and sewage services, Rio’s waterways are choked with sewage and garbage. Organizers say the materials used in the sculptures were plucked off the shore.

The show runs through Thursday.