BNE Means Water

BNE Water Foundation has one of the most unique conception stories of all the posts we’ve done so far. As a fan of the founder’s art I am even more engrossed in the BNE movement now that he has chosen to use his worldwide notoriety to help others. Since the birth of street art aka Graffiti,  at its very basic allure has always been about creating recognition for your artistic expression. Artists in urban areas creating a bigger voice for themselves by using the public space to amplify their message through spray cans, paint, or any other medium of choice. BNE started off as a graffiti artist writing his name on walls and places all over the world, making his mark in a visually convincing way but mostly leaving the viewer confused at the association of the the acronym. Now at the very least one thing is very clear, BNE MEANS WATER.

The worldwide travels of BNE enabled him to experience the realness of global poverty and social injustice. Although his message had risen to fame, he felt compelled to leverage what the visual equity of  BNE  meant. Further empowering the guerrilla marketing and rogue advertising work he has built by deciding to provide clean water and sanitation solutions to developing countries was a game changer in his artistic process.

In his own words, this is how the journey began:

“I was painting my name on a wall with a can of silver paint when an older woman with only one tooth who spoke decent English came up to me and asked what I was doing. I could see years of hard times in her eyes. I told her that I was painting my name and she said that “it must be nice to be able to just spray money into the air” and went on to say that if she had paint she could make the old fence in front of her shack look brand new. She had a point. I had some more cans so we painted the fence together and when we finished I couldn’t believe how happy she was.

She never asked me for money or anything beyond painting the fence she just wanted to talk. She lived right in front of a filthy brown river full of garbage and eventually the conversation turned towards water. As we talked I learned that people in the neighborhood used to get water from a well but it had been broken for a while. She often had to go without food because she spent most of her money buying water from street sellers. Even with the well, water had to be boiled so residents spent a large chunk of their salaries on kerosene. After our conversation she thanked me for the fence and we parted ways. 

I left Jakarta the next day and started doing a lot of research on water. The more I read I realized that there was nothing more important than water, this is what I really needed to focus on.”

I love the charity product from BNE Water Foundation. To me it speaks to a diverse audience that I find is often untapped or overlooked in the world of philanthropy. Its also really damn cool. A certain global pop icon mascot representing a giant big business conglomerate with a BNE stickie masking the eyes?! Now that’s masterpiece theater.

100% of BNE profits from product sales help fund clean water projects.

Visit http://bnewater.org/

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