Francesca Busca

Francesca Busca is an established, award‑winning eco‑artivist, ‘trashure’ artist and pioneering waste mosaicist whose practice transforms discarded materials into vibrant works that celebrate diversity, deepen empathy and inspire systemic change. Her mosaics – crafted entirely from waste – challenge perceptions of value, beauty and responsibility, inviting audiences to reconsider their relationship with the materials they use and discard, and with the ecosystem as a whole, urging a shift from an anthropocentric mindset to one centred on the common good.

Working at the intersection of art, activism and environmental science, Francesca reimagines waste as a catalyst for dialogue and collective action. Each piece is built from the overlooked fragments of daily life: plastics, metals, textiles, packaging, and the countless remnants of contemporary consumption. Through meticulous hand‑crafting and a distinctive aesthetic language, she elevates these materials into powerful visual narratives of resilience, community and hope.

Her practice is rooted in transparency, inclusivity and collaboration. Francesca is the founder of Payment in Kind(ness), ArtforTrash and GREENybastARTs, some of her initiatives dedicated to creative reuse, environmental education and community engagement. She regularly partners with schools, charities, grassroots organisations, cultural institutions and corporations to deliver talks and participatory projects that empower people to rethink waste and embrace sustainable creativity.

Internationally recognised and published, Francesca also collaborates with leading scientific institutions, contributing her artistic perspective to research on waste, circularity and climate communication. Her academic work includes participation in the Critical Accounting Reading Group at Birmingham Business School – in partnership with the University of Manchester – where she contributes to discussions on ancient languages, eco‑artivism, social movements, circularity, capitalism and enchantment, all in service of imagining new quantification systems grounded in nature rather than profit. Her commitment to ocean health includes being a member of Project One Wave, transforming recovered ghost gear into artworks that highlight the urgent need for systemic change in marine protection and global waste management. She is also a partner of the London Clean Air Initiative, supporting cross‑sector efforts to address pollution and environmental justice.

Through her pioneering waste mosaics, Francesca champions the belief that meaningful change begins with imagination – and that beauty, empathy and activism can coexist in every piece of ‘trashure’ we choose to transform.