Youngster wows community with recycled art project2 min read
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A local youngster has captured the hearts of the community by creating a masterpiece of his favourite spot: Māngere Bridge; complete with water, cafés, and an erupting mount.
Marwin Prabhakar (6) spent a month-and-a-half meticulously creating the model using recycled materials like old newspapers, a water bottle, ripped fabric, wood, pinecones, and even small plastic animals from his toy box. The colourful project is on display at the Mt Albert Library, as part of the Welcome to Ngā Ana Wai poster celebration. The model features a blue bridge with a dinky toy sports car, pipe cleaner children standing at a playground, animals grazing on Māngere Mountain, and seashells along the water’s edge, complete with ducks! The mount even erupts, thanks to baking soda from mum, Shweta.
The creative apple doesn’t fall far from the tree as Marwin’s older sister is Sancy, a popular 16-year-old singer and songwriter, who is taking the stage by storm. Shweta says Marwin’s love for art started at age three, and he would borrow Sancy’s colours and start drawing on anything he could find. “We put chart papers on the walls so he could draw and paint freely,” she says.
The project isn’t part of a school project, it was just something Marwin wanted to do. It stems from his love for art, his attention to detail and his natural curiosity about the world around him. Shweta says that creating art and building projects has always been second nature to Marwin.
“He’s turned our garage into his personal craft room, where he has the freedom to create anything he imagines.”
The Māngere Bridge project struck a chord with the local community too. Shweta put a post on social media post showcasing Marwin’s talent, and it quickly gained attention from locals, with commenters praising the effort and creativity, especially from someone so young.
Marwin’s creativity isn’t slowing down either, and he’s already planning his next big adventure: building a spaceship to Mars with Sancy, adding to their previous creations like a solar system model, a shark sculpture, and countless paintings.
