It All Started With One Panel
Luis A. Escobedo, co-founder of the Mexican Agrivoltaics and Digital Agriculture Association, had a broken solar panel. He asked artist and researcher Zachary B. Kahn if it could be transformed into art.
Zachary said yes — and created the first panel: "Caminos del Sol"
The piece sparked a new idea: Turning solar waste into a global art movement for climate and social change.
The Problem: A Solar Waste Tsunami Is Coming
12 Artists Currently Working
Zachary B. Kahn
Zachary B. Kahn
Zachary B. Kahn
My work moves fluidly between disciplines, bridging the worlds of art, design, and urban space. Rooted in a deep appreciation for movement and environment, I see the built world as a living canvas—one shaped by history, culture, and the traces we leave behind. Influenced by my early experiences in skateboarding and graffiti, I developed an instinct for navigating and reinterpreting cityscapes, an approach that continues to inform my practice today.
Olga Nerina
Zachary B. Kahn
Zachary B. Kahn
Visual Artist. Indie-Tecno-Realismo
Graeme Luey
Zachary B. Kahn
Ricardo Santos
Graeme Luey is a Canadian artist based in CDMX. His practice focuses on using recycled materials to create fine art. This work is part of The Invisible Gorilla series, which asks the viewer what's really important to focus on, what's right in front of you, or what's going on behind the scenes to make things work. The work is made from recycled solar panel, and eco friendly paint.
Ricardo Santos
Ricardo Santos
Ricardo Santos
Multidisciplinary visual artist born in Chihuahua, based in CDMX, founder and director of NOESUNAGALERIA, a platform for artistic experimentation.
Vania Estay
Ricardo Santos
Vania Estay
Vania Estay Scabini, artista visual chilena, dedicada principalmente a la pintura y la ilustración. Nacida en la ciudad de Punta Arenas, explora diferentes técnicas y estilos que le permitieron desarrollar su propio lenguaje visual.
Leticia Poo
Ricardo Santos
Vania Estay
Leticia Poo Ramos is a visual artist and muralist whose practice weaves together the spiritual, the symbolic, and the sensory. Her work explores the relationship between matter and the unseen, gesture and contemplation, integrating painting, installation, and performance as pathways for connection with nature and human bonds. Influenced by the bodily and spiritual experience of yoga, her work seeks to reveal beauty as a vital force and to remind us of the possibility of an art that breathes, listens, and transforms. Through projects such as Unspeakable Love and The Art of Receiving, she has developed a visual language that celebrates sensitivity, energy, and presence.
Olliver Graham
Olliver Graham
Olliver Graham
Oliver James Graham is an Artist from a small town in the U.K called Wells. He started painting at the age of 14. He recently moved to Mexico City after studying painting in London. He is inspired by the drama of creation and the sensuality of paint.
Paul Bello
Olliver Graham
Olliver Graham
Paul is a visual artist who currently works as a muralist and painter in Mexico. You can find his artwork scattered on city walls, inside homes and pubs, boutique shops, and in galleries of México and United States. He has coordinated art events, directed painting classes and has designed and hand painted clothing at Sindashi, a high fashion store of San Miguel de Allende. Starting his career in video communications and graphic design, Paul always had a keen creative eye for color and dimension. In his most recent works, he incorporates these components into his magical and surrealistic imagery.
Meghan Garrity
Olliver Graham
Meghan Garrity
Meghan Garrity is a painter exploring transformation, connection, and the unseen rhythms that shape human experience. From Philadelphia but based in Mexico City since 2023, her work draws from the city’s vibrant culture, light, and color. Through bold hues, myth, and mysticism, she channels the divine feminine and the sacred in everyday life. Using layered, intuitive compositions on canvas or repurposed materials like solar panels, Garrity’s art reflects renewal, continuity, and the cycles of nature—celebrating the interconnectedness of people, materials, and the natural world while reimagining how creativity can illuminate a brighter, more conscious future.
Ibn Cheickh
Julio David Rojas
Meghan Garrity
Ibn is a recognized visual artist from Ivory Coast.
Julio David Rojas
Julio David Rojas
Julio David Rojas
Julio David Rojas (Ciudad de México, 1997) Artista visual, pintor, docente, psicólogo y muralista. Su trabajo investiga la relación entre materia, técnica y pensamiento desde un realismo contemporáneo que integra tradición barroca, estética cyberpunk e ilustración contemporanea. Maestro de pintura fundadore de Atelier Velázquez, desarrolla el concepto de Materialismo Pictórico, donde la pintura se concibe como una práctica racional y operatoria más que expresiva. Su obra combina precisión técnica con reflexión pictorica, abordando temas como la energía, la memoria visual y la tensión entre naturaleza, realismo y mito.
Derms
Julio David Rojas
Julio David Rojas
Urban artist from Toluca, México
1 The Sun Is Our Past. The Panel Is Our Canvas. We create on solar surfaces not to erase their purpose, but to extend it.
2 Only the Dead May Be Reborn. We intervene only used, broken, or inactive solar panels. No waste. No greenwashing.
3 Leave the Wound Visible. At least 10% of the panel must remain untouched — a window into what it once was.
4 We Paint With Responsibility. Each artwork will remain under the custody and safeguard of Second Life of Solar until it is sold. The artist is free in materials and concept.
5 Every Mark Tells a Story. Donors, artists, and collectors become part of the panel's eternal record — visible on blockchain, visible to the world.
6 No Artist Is Above the Earth. We work with humility. We acknowledge the systems we critique and offer beauty as a response.
7 No Borders. No Bias. No Gatekeeping. We accept all forms of identity, culture, and expression — the sun shines for everyone.
8 NFTs Are Not the Art. Just the Tool. The token is a tool. The real artwork is physical, imperfect, heavy, and alive.
9 We Split What We Create. Revenue is shared fairly: artist, donor, gallery, community, and social project all receive their share of the sun.
10 Solar Memory Must Be Traceable. All interventions must be logged, signed, and published on the blockchain — from first spark to final sale.
11 This Is Art That Votes. Each NFT grants the collector a voice — to choose the next artist, fund the next project, shape the next cycle.
12 We Move in the Open. Transparency is non-negotiable. Every wallet, every contract, every donation is visible.
13 The Artist Is a Steward. To create is to care. The artwork must outlast the ego. Handle the panel with respect — it once gave light.
14 The Panel's Journey Must Be Tracked. Ownership must be traceable through blockchain. Every transfer, every story, every change must be recorded for transparency.
15 We're Building a Solar Archive of Humanity. Each panel becomes part of a permanent, decentralized, collective artwork — co-created across decades, across cultures.
Win - Win - Win
JOIN THE MOVEMENT
Apply as an Artist
Be part of the movement that gives a second life to solar panels.
At Second Life of Solar, we invite artists who believe in the power of art to inspire change. By transforming decommissioned solar panels into artworks, you’ll help raise awareness about sustainability and renewable energy.
As an artist, you’ll:
- Receive a used solar panel to intervene using your own artistic vision and materials.
- Have your piece exhibited in official Second Life of Solar exhibitions and events.
- Remain the author and creative owner of your artwork; the panel itself will stay under the movement’s custody until it is sold, with full acknowledgment of your contribution.
Donate a Solar Panel
Give your solar panel a second life through art.
At Second Life of Solar, we transform decommissioned or damaged solar panels into artistic pieces that raise awareness about sustainability and renewable energy. By donating a panel, you’re not only reducing waste — you’re helping artists, communities, and environmental advocates create change.
Your contribution will:
- Prevent functional materials from ending up as waste.
- Support artists who use their creativity to inspire sustainability.
- Become part of exhibitions, educational programs, and environmental movements.
