Photo gallery: From trash to treasure: Everest litter becomes art
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In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
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In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
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In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
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In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
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In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
In this photograph taken on Nov 19, 2012, visitors look at art made from trash collected on Mount Everest, in Kathmandu. A group of artists is staging an exhibition of sculpture made from tonnes of trash collected on Mount Everest, highlighting the toll that decades of mountaineering have taken on the world's highest peak. Discarded oxygen and cooking gas cylinders, ropes, tents, glasses, beer cans, plastic and even the remains of a helicopter make up 75 artworks commissioned for the "Everest 8848 Art Project" on display in Kathmandu. -- PHOTO: AFP
KATHMANDU (REUTERS) - Fifteen Nepali artists were closeted for a month with a heap of 1.5 tonnes of trash picked up from Mount Everest. When they emerged, they had transformed the litter into art.
The 75 sculptures, including one of a yak and another of wind chimes, were made from empty oxygen bottles, gas canisters, food cans, torn tents, ropes, crampons, boots, plates, twisted aluminium ladders and torn plastic bags dumped by climbers over decades on the slopes of the world's highest mountain.
Kripa Rana Shahi, director of art group Da Mind Tree, said the sculpting - and a resulting recent exhibition in the Nepali capital of Kathmandu - was aimed at spreading awareness about keeping Mount Everest clean.
"Everest is our crown jewel in the world," Shahi said. "We should not take it for granted. The amount of trash there is damaging our pride."
