The Sewer Soaperie in ‘Are You Ready’? Art Exhibition in the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction by the UNDRR

The Hon. Toni Yulo-Loyzaga, environment secretary of the Philippines. Image by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The Sewer Soaperie was part of ‘Are You Ready?’, an art exhibition held from 13-18 October 2024 alongside the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR) in Manila, the Philippines. The opening of the event included Mr. Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction; The Honourable Maria Antonia “Toni” Jugo Yulo-Loyzaga, environment secretary of the Philippines; and SM Prime Chairman of the Executive Committee Hans Sy.

The “Are You Ready?” art exhibition presents a wide range of artworks that show the challenges and solutions related to disaster risk reduction in Asia and the Pacific. It highlights the role of art as a powerful form of education to raise awareness and inspire action to build more resilient communities, as is the theme of the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction 2024. The exhibition also commemorates the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 20 years on.

SM Prime Chairman of the Executive Committee Hans Sy; Mr. Kamal Kishore, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction; The Hon. Toni Yulo-Loyzaga, environment secretary of the Philippines. Image by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

The exhibition was organized by the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) with the support of the Philippine Government and SM Prime, and with contributions from the UNESCO Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It was curated by Dr. Hannah Entwisle Chapuisat.

‘Are You Ready?’ art exhibition in the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference by the UN Disaster Risk Reduction. Image by APMCDRR.

The Sewer Soaperie (2016) is an artscience project that turns sewage into luxury soaps. During extreme storms in the Anthropocene, many cities are ill-equipped to handle the flooding that follows. One reason is the coagulated grease in the sewers, with some as big as airplanes and nicknamed “fatbergs”. Among the sources of grease is used oil or fatty waste that is poured into sinks, which drains into the sewers and hardens in the pipes. The world already experiences extreme storms because of the climate crisis, and cities will experience even more flooding if exacerbated by human actions. The Sewer Soaperie takes samples from different points of the journey of oil — from raw palm oil, used cooking oil, and sewage. These were sterilized and turned into luxury soaps through the artist’s saponification experiments.