Moss and Fog
In Sustainability

The Trash That Outlives the Bug

Insects are disappearing. Plastic is not.

Dutch artist Henk Loorbach noticed this grim trade-off and did something quietly devastating with it: he started building bugs from the stuff that’s replacing them.

A wall display featuring various framed insect sculptures, showcasing a range of colorful and stylized designs in multiple shadow boxes.

His series Litterbugs transforms beachcombed bottle caps, fishing line, and stray straws into fragile, eerily convincing insect sculptures.

The pieces don’t try to hide what they’re made of. A straw is still a straw, a cap still a cap.

A collection of colorful insect models displayed in a wooden frame, featuring various designs in green and blue tones.

But held together just so, they become something that looks like it should be pinned in a natural history museum.

That’s the twist, and it lands. One world is fading. The other just keeps accumulating.

A framed display featuring colorful plastic insect figurines arranged in a grid pattern, showcasing various shapes and sizes of bugs against a light background.

Loorbach makes you hold both thoughts at once.

A framed display featuring six colorful insect-inspired sculptures made from plastic materials, arranged creatively against a white background.
A collection of colorful plastic insect figurines arranged in a shadow box frame against a blue background.
A collection of colorful insect figurines displayed in various wooden frames on a wall. The insects include a variety of shapes and sizes, crafted from different materials.
A framed display featuring various small insect and lantern figures made from colorful materials, arranged in an artistic layout.
A display case containing various insect-like sculptures made from metal and other materials, arranged on a wooden background.
A framed display featuring two artistic representations of insects. On the left, a decorative insect made from metallic and textured materials, resembling a bee, with gold and black accents. On the right, a creatively designed insect made from various materials, showcasing a unique form and color scheme.
A framed artwork featuring five colorful insect models made from plastic materials, displayed on a white background.
A decorative art piece featuring three insects made from various materials, displayed in a wooden frame. The central insect is a blue butterfly adorned with a pink flower, while the left is a black and gray fly, and the right is a pink insect with transparent bulbous elements.

For more on our overwhelming plastic pollution problem, check out these articles.

A display of four colorful, stylized insect models arranged in a wooden frame against a white background.
A framed display of various insect and arachnid models, including a bat, spiders, and other stylized bugs, mounted on a white background with a wooden border.
A framed piece of art featuring a colorful abstract design made from electronic components, including a microchip and various shapes in red and translucent materials.
A collection of colorful insect models displayed in a wooden frame, featuring various types and sizes of bugs in green and blue hues.

Images © Copyright Henk Loorbach. See more of his work on Instagram.

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Author

Ben VanderVeen is the founder and editor of Moss & Fog, one of the web’s longest-running visual culture destinations. Since 2009, he’s been finding and framing the most beautiful, surprising, and thought-provoking work in art, architecture, design, and nature — reaching over 325,000 readers each month. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

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