This year’s Glastonbury Worthy Farm Festival featured a huge toilet sculpture in clay.
Festival goers will see a 2.5m model that was built using some of the Glastonbury mud mixed with local Somerset sand and compost sourced from toilets at previous festivals.
Presented by WaterAid and conceived by The Big Bog, the sculpture can be found next to the four operating Good Toilets, eco-friendly composting toilets run by the charity.
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The model was made from Worthy Farm mud, Somerset sand and compost obtained from toilets at previous festivals. (Ben Roberts/ Water Aid)
The model, located next to the Pyramid stage, took more than 40 hours to create and is intended to highlight that one in five people in the world do not have access to decent sanitation.
The large swamp, created by the artists of Sand In Your Eye, is deliberately prone to damage, cracking if it gets too hot or being washed away by rain.
It’s a way to symbolize the climate crisis and how it continues to threaten millions of people’s access to basic needs like clean water and toilets, according to WaterAid.
On top of the toilet is a model of Tim Lloyd, one of the WaterAid Loo Crew volunteers, who is shown sitting and reading Glastonbury’s Free Press.
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(WaterAid / Sand in your eyes)
Mr Lloyd said he was “honoured” to be part of the WaterAid model.
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He said: “It is shocking to think that one in five people in the world do not have access to a decent toilet and one in ten do not have access to clean water, and climate change is making life even more difficult for those who live in poverty.
“I am honored to be immortalized in the dirt here at Glastonbury and I hope it helps spread the message that everyone, everywhere deserves a clean, safe and reliable toilet.
“Whether it’s queuing for drinks, waiting to go to the bathroom, or not being as clean as they would like, festivals remind people what it can be like for millions of people who don’t have access to clean water or toilets.
“I will spread the word that we can all help make a difference for communities living on the front lines of climate change.”
WaterAid’s toilet sculpture is designed to raise awareness for its Climate Fight campaign.
Tim Wainwright, Chief Executive of WaterAid said: “We are very excited to be back at Glastonbury this year and look forward to making a big splash with Big Bog.
“Toilets and dirt are synonymous with festivals, and while this sculpture is a little funny, it conveys an important message: the climate crisis is a water crisis, and it threatens millions of people’s access to clean water and sanitation.
“To give the world’s most vulnerable people the tools to deal with all kinds of climate impacts, from deadly heatwaves to devastating floods, we are calling on the UK government to lead the way in making access to reliable clean water and sanitation a priority. climate change agenda”.
