Cam Scott Wants To Help Get More People In The Ocean
The multi-disciplinary street artist tell us why he's opening up surfing, one recycled board at a time.
If you've spent any time around one of Sydney's most famous beaches lately, chances are you've encountered the varied works of Cam Scott. A prodigious local artist with a social commentary bent, Scott's public art shows up anywhere there's a clunky, ugly man-made structure that could use with some beautification. Born in New York, Cam's worked in Australia for the last decade and is now a definitive part of Bondi's fabric.
While Cam is perhaps best known for his street art, which alternately critiques social media and campaigning to save wildlife, it's one of his newer, under-the-radar projects that recently caught our attention. Strapped to the railing at the end of the beach is a collection of old surfboards, repurposed and upcycled to have a new life, available to anyone that wants to get out into the ocean but might not have the gear. It's another brainchild of Cam's, having matched his passion for public art with his detest for unnecessary landfill. We got him on the phone in between sets to ask him all about it.
When I was growing up, your type of stencil work wouldn't have lasted 2 days out in the wild. But your work has endured for a long time, which isn't typical of street art.
I know! Even though I do have the odd beef with certain rangers, it's nice that my stuff manages to survive.
Do you think the city has become part of the visual environment that maybe the public hadn't thought of as a canvas before?
Yeah. I find the whole idea of public space and 'the commons' really interesting. We're just so accepting of advertising in our physical reality. People would never second-guess some horrible fucking coal company putting up an ad to try and greenwash their reputation, but as soon as an artists tries to draw attention to climate change they're automatically branded a criminal.
I'm always pushing people that if they have something to say that will make our environment better, get out there and say it. In my experience, if you're improving an urban environment, people will [generally] go for it. I've had policeman come up to me and say 'Oh yeah, that's actually pretty sick..'
The grey areas are good. They allow interesting things to come through into society.
A lot of your work is around the detrimental effects of online living. Do you think that problem has become exacerbated during lockdown?
I never want to sound like I'm just writing off digital technologies because there are inherent benefits in all the platforms I critique. The fact that we're all trapped inside but still able to communicate with one another pretty seamlessly and build communities is amazing. But if it wasn't for lockdown and people were being drawn inside and not experiencing the world around them, I'd say that's pretty detrimental. As good as those online cultures are, if that's all you have, it's a pretty harmful thing. Look, these are the weird ironies I deal with every day! (laughs)
Do you find that you're working more or less?
I'm trying to keep productive. I really hate sitting on the couch and doing nothing all day, so I'm always bouncing between different things to keep me motivated. I'm also surfing twice a day!
Surfing is almost like the water equivalent of getting out into nature where there's nothing to distract you.
For sure. I often think to myself that I have no idea how people function in the world without surfing. It offers me so many benefits, from exercise to that meditative isolation you get. I'm baffled by mates I grew up with that don't have the same connection to the water.
I find surfing offers real perspective, too. You're sitting there on your board and then you just get walloped by this wave and remember you mean nothing in the world...
It can be very humbling. That's an important learning when you go out on a bigger day, that you realise you're just a little speck in this giant blue brine. Also that connection to nature is just so important. Unless people have a specific reason to get out there, like they booked a campsite or go hiking with mates, I think a lot of city dwellers are lacking that in their every day. You guys are really good about making that a big part of what you do.
When you go out surfing on a bigger day, you realise you're just a little speck in this giant blue brine.
This obviously leads to your share board concept. Is that your way of saying more people need to understand the benefits of nature and here's a really easy way to start?
I mean, I would love to say that's my overarching intention but it was really more practical than that to start with. I just had so many foam surfboards that I'd tried to save from landfill, just picking these old ones up from the side of the road, trying to bring them back to life. It was pretty successful, but there's only so many weird storage nooks I have in Bondi, so I decided that rather than keep it to myself, I'd strap it to a fence near the beach and see if people could actually keep it there.
That was about 4 years ago now and it became this experiment in community custodianship. It just regularly restores my faith in humanity; seeing people untie it, take it for a wave and bring it back.
I didn't realise you were reupholstering the boards.
Some definitely need a bit of love before you put 'em there. If it's a bit too deteriorated it causes more plastic to get into the ocean, but there are others you can fix up a bit, whack some font on it and they're good to go. There's all different boards coming in these days the majority of which aren't ones that I even bring down anymore. It's become self-sustaining.
So people are just hearing about it and joining in.
It's incredible. It's grown organically, people see it down there, think about boards they aren't using and bring them down. It brings such a smile to my face. For something that was an experiment, it's turned into something pretty special.
See more of Cam's street art and inspired ideas at his website.
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