Healthcare store hails 2nd sustainability art competition, exhibit

MANILA, Philippines — Health and beauty care chain store Watsons successfully staged its second edition of the Sustainable Art Competition, where invited artists created pieces using recycled items from the store.

Over 30 artists from around the Philippines submitted mixed-media works, some making more than one piece, using recycled Watsons products that fit into the theme of "Reimagine, Recycle for a Better Future."

All the artworks are on display in Drybrush Gallery in SM Mall of Asia where the health and beauty store hosted the launch and announced the winners last August 8.

The grand winner was Noli Española's "Alay sa Inang Kalikasan," which mainly used bottles and caps attached to a painting.

The runner-up was Sven Wilbur Lim's "A Cinderella Story," a sculpture that used wrappers, balm containers, and resin to strengthen a female figure made from pages of the "Cinderella" fairytale.

Española received a P100,000 cash prize and P8,000 worth of Watsons items, while Lim received a P50,000 cash prize and P5,000 worth of items from the health and beauty store.

"We know that art and sustainability have always been interconnected because we know art can move and evoke emotion, drive people to create action, ignite conversations," Sharon Decapia, Watsons' Senior Assistant Vice President for Marketing, Public Relations and Sustainability, told members of the media, including Philstar.com.

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Decapia shared the competition was established as an avenure for artists to help in the education and drive the conversation on how to help save the environment and improve one's daily lifestyle habits.

"When we think of health and beauty, usually it's for ourselves to look and feel good but, of course, Watsons is all about looking good, doing good, and feeling great, and that includes not just us but also the environment," Decapia added, referring to the store's tagline.

"There's beauty in trash. If you look at these wonderful works of art, they send a powerful image of how we should be responsible to protect Mother Nature," she added.

Winning artist Española agreed, "Huwag muna itapon mga