Afzal Shafiu (Afu), Artist, Ocean Junk: Reimagined Exhibition | MV+ People

“The main goal is for viewers to look at these pieces, reflect on the issue, and recognise that it is their own responsibility to change things.”

For Maldivian artist Afzal Shafiu, known as Afu, art provides a space to reflect on the relationship between people and their environment, inviting audiences to consider the traces human activity leaves behind.

His latest exhibition, running from 18 August to 15 September 2026 at Gallery 350 in Malé, marks ten years since his original Ocean Junk series. The exhibition brings together images, sculptures, moving images and imagined specimens that explore environmental impact, transformation and adaptation through objects and materials shaped by the sea and human activity.

While environmental concerns form a central theme of the work, Afu says he does not approach the exhibition primarily as an environmental activist. Instead, he sees his role as an artist as one that involves observing society and presenting his own perspective, allowing viewers to interpret the work and reflect on their own relationship with the issues it raises.

The Ocean Junk series itself developed organically rather than from a predetermined plan. Afu said the first piece gradually led to another, with the collection evolving as he continued experimenting with materials and finding personal enjoyment in the creative process. Rather than working from detailed reference drawings, many of the sculptures take shape through memories, imagination and the physical characteristics of the discarded objects he collects.

One of the works in the exhibition incorporates parts of a damaged dinghy that Afu watched drift ashore during a period of rough weather. He observed the vessel being battered by waves, gradually breaking apart and scattering across the shoreline. Fascinated by the process, he collected pieces of the wreckage and later incorporated them into the sculpture, transforming sections of the dinghy into fins and other components.

Through Ocean Junk, the artist transforms discarded materials into new forms while encouraging viewers to pause and consider the consequences of what is left behind. The exhibition ultimately places responsibility not only on institutions or wider society, but also on individuals and the everyday choices that shape the environment around them.