Empathy (2018) Photography by Francesca Busca

As an Eco-artivist, ‘Rubbish artist’ and mosaicist, Francesca pioneers sustainable art by creating her artworks entirely out of waste (her 'trashure'). 

Torn between optimism and surrender, Francesca is haunted by the idea of mankind’s imminent self-destruction. Yet she believes in a future for humanity of resourceful innovation through re-thinking and reducing. Her artworks are drenched in hope: every tessera she creates is in itself a protest against our disposable lifestyle, providing a different perspective on rubbish. In her world rubbish acquires new value and meanings, and becomes the undisputed protagonist of her artworks, as fun and beautiful a Cinderella as she can master it to be: from waste to wonder, the more beautiful the artworks, the clearer the message.

Gesamtkunstwerk, her eco-artivism encompasses every aspect of her life: a vegan raising vegans, using 100% renewable energy, wearing second-hand clothes, being plastic free wherever possible, seeking local food and saving water, growing a vegetable and wildlife garden, not flying for the past 4 years (…), she strives to live as sustainably as possible.

Francesca graduated with distinction in Mosaic and Fine Arts at the London School of Mosaic in 2019, where she also lectured the Fabrication module in 2021/22. She exhibited in over 100 venues internationally, was published in over 60 articles and textbooks internationally, and won over 2 dozen awards internationally. 

She is the founder of the Payment in Kind(ness)© initiative, whereby she accepts eco-friendly actions as payment toward her artwork, and of ArtforTrash©, whereby she uses the clients’ own waste to create artwork for residential, institutional and corporate settings internationally.

Francesca runs pro bono art projects with schools, individuals and organisations on eco-awareness and sustainability. To name a few, she collaborated with Living Streets, Salon Sustainability, Fernando Montaño and a few primary and secondary schools in London. Her longest collaboration (March 2018 - April 2019) was “A Breath of Fresh Air” with the London International Gallery of Children’s Art (LIGCA), which involved 5 schools in London and Delhi and culminated in an exhibition at the Nehru Centre. 

She is currently collaborating with the Institute of Marine Sciences in Venice on Project Maelstrom, whereby she will create a permanent installation in loco during the Venice Boat show 2024, by using both the waste recovered from the sea through their initiatives and that from their labs.

In short, Francesca's quest is to turn the unwanted into desirable, shame into wonder, the superfluous into essential, and provoke real Change.

• Nationality: ITALY
• Date of birth : 1975
• Artistic domains: Works by artists with a certified artist value,
• Groups: Certified Artists Contemporary Italian Artists