Portable Toilet (Loo) Selected to Showcase Artist Gallery of
Portable Toilet Signs
Portable Toilet Signs
By Chelsea McCafferty
Foreign Corespondent
Foreign Corespondent
| Melanie Warner |
Whomever said there was only one good use for a portable toilet has clearly never
met Melanie Warner, recent graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University
(MMU) in England. It all started with just a hunch, an interesting topic for a
dissertation, but Melanie’s creativity and artistic eye led her to find an alternative
use for an old portable loo. Her creation is called the Bog Standard Gallery. It is the
world’s smallest art gallery and proudly displays Melanie’s dissertation topic—
pictures of toilet signs from around the world.
Melanie is 22 years old and was born in Solihull in the West Midlands of England.
She moved with her parents and two younger sisters to South Manchester when
she was 6 years old. She has been a resident and student
met Melanie Warner, recent graduate of Manchester Metropolitan University
(MMU) in England. It all started with just a hunch, an interesting topic for a
dissertation, but Melanie’s creativity and artistic eye led her to find an alternative
use for an old portable loo. Her creation is called the Bog Standard Gallery. It is the
world’s smallest art gallery and proudly displays Melanie’s dissertation topic—
pictures of toilet signs from around the world.
Melanie is 22 years old and was born in Solihull in the West Midlands of England.
She moved with her parents and two younger sisters to South Manchester when
she was 6 years old. She has been a resident and student
in Manchester ever since. She also has a half brother and sister
as well as a step brother and sister, and enjoys being part of a
big family. Artistic talent was apparent at an early stage in
Melanie’s youth, but it never crossed her mind that she would
become an artist. What she did know is that she wanted to
spend her life doing something creative.
“As a child, and even now, I rarely read or watch films. I just
love to make things out of whatever I can find,” Melanie shared.
“I have vivid memories of making vending machines out of
cardboard boxes when I was a child—hiding inside, making
drinks when members of my family put money through the slot,
and then pushing their drink out of a hole I had cut.”
as well as a step brother and sister, and enjoys being part of a
big family. Artistic talent was apparent at an early stage in
Melanie’s youth, but it never crossed her mind that she would
become an artist. What she did know is that she wanted to
spend her life doing something creative.
“As a child, and even now, I rarely read or watch films. I just
love to make things out of whatever I can find,” Melanie shared.
“I have vivid memories of making vending machines out of
cardboard boxes when I was a child—hiding inside, making
drinks when members of my family put money through the slot,
and then pushing their drink out of a hole I had cut.”
However, Melanie’s artistic nature lead her in a different direction. “As much as I loved making things, I had absolutely no
patience to sit and do coloring. I still hate it to this day! I think it's because I just didn't see it as creative to put blocks of
color into something someone else had drawn,” Melanie said. “As much as I am creative, I don't like unrealistic films with
people that fly and things. I think this is why all my work is based around mundane and everyday things. I like it to be
realistic and for people to be able to relate to it—to look at things they are used to seeing but in a totally different way.”
“I have been so extremely lucky with the art teachers I have had, and it is without a doubt down to their encouragement and
motivation that gave me the confidence and inspired me to keep pursuing my studies within art,” Melanie said. “I have also
been very lucky with my tutors at university, as well as the great support of the technician who has helped to make Bog
Standard Gallery possible.”
So what exactly is the Bog Standard Gallery? It all began in July of 2006 when Melanie was considering what topic to use
for her dissertation at MMU. “I have always been drawn to the design of toilet signs,“ Melanie explained. “I had a pair of
earrings, one a male and one a female toilet sign symbol and then went on to receive a bracelet. I decided to investigate
whether cultural differences were apparent in the design of toilet signs.”
She decided to do a comparison between a Middle Eastern and a European country. Travelling around Israel, Melanie took
photographs of every toilet sign she came across. She also did the same in the United Kingdom, gathering approximately
200 examples of toilet signs for each country. Once she had the pictures, she began to take apart the differences between
them and form a series of statistics based on her findings. Some of these differences included how the drawings on the
signs were dressed, whether they had hair, if they were represented with a whole body or just a head—altogether Melanie
came up with about 40 variables. With these statistics, along with other research she had done on the matter, Melanie
began to draw some fascinating conclusions.
“The incorporation of pictograms within a toilet sign is important due to the problems occurring with textual based signs
owing to language barriers,” Melanie said in her dissertation. “Political correctness is evidently a difficultly arising from
how symbols are depicted in toilet signs. It is important to note that literature describing historic views indicates that this
problem was not apparent at the time; trousers symbolised masculinity while skirts symbolised femininity. In modern
society however, it has become an increasingly challenging problem. In my research, I posed the question, 'Is it possible to
create the perfect sign?
“In my opinion, as much as it is possible to try and cater for as many groups of people feasible on a sign, it will always be at
the unavoidable exclusion of other groups.”
Here are a few interesting statistics Melanie gathered in her research: “Eight percent of toilet signs in the UK have hair.
Rectangular is the most popular shape for a toilet sign in both Israel and the UK. Most toilet signs in Israel have a border
around them, whereas less than a third of the ones in the UK do have a border. The majority of toilet signs in the UK are
black and silver and the same from one place to the next, whereas in Israel they are less commercial and more often
customized or made as a one-off.”
For Melanie, this was only the beginning. “Overall, even though the parameters for the design of toilet signs at first
appeared to be quite limited, I observed larger cultural differences than I anticipated,” she reported in her dissertation.
“However, further observations are needed to establish a true understanding of these differences.”
So she set out on a mission to travel the world and take pictures of toilet signs where ever she could find them. Her travels
took her to six more countries including Italy, Germany and Ireland, and next she will travel to South Africa at the end of
August.
There was only one problem left to solve—where would she display her work? “I had exhibited my photographs of toilet
signs in the toilets of a couple of art galleries, and the reaction was very positive,” she said. “I then decided that it would be
good to give them a home of their own so that it was easier for the collection to travel. You can imagine how long it was
taking to stick up 500 photographs only to take them down and put them somewhere else!”
This is when Melanie came up with the idea of converting an old portable toilet into a travelling art gallery. She began to
call rental companies to enquire as to how to purchase a unit. Eventually, after many calls she found a distributor in Eccles
and went to select a portable loo.
“It felt like I was in porta-loo heaven—there were just rows upon rows of them in every color you could imagine!” she
exclaimed.
She purchased an old unit for £125 (or approximately $250) and had it delivered to her studio. When it arrived, Melanie
found it was still filled with water and chemicals, and she began a complete renovation of the loo, removing the toilet and
pipes, scrubbing the entire unit down and painting the walls white. She also laid an oak floor. Then the pictures went into
place; 24 of them with text to describe the art. The mission was to make it feel just like a normal gallery. Thus it was so
named the Bog Standard Gallery and put on display for the public.
“This project will become part of my assessment for my degree and will be exhibited at the degree show,” she explained. “I
spent 100 hours working on the porta-loo! It is now part of a series I am working on that involves instillations in portable
spaces.”
“The gallery had its first exhibition in south Manchester in April, in which there was an opening ceremony where a ribbon
was cut by the curator of the Whitworth art gallery. The Mayor of Manchester was also present. The next venue will be the
MMU degree show from June 15- 24 in the Holden Gallery at the All Saints campus on Oxford Road. Each day I am
receiving emails from people from all parts of the world asking where they can go to visit the gallery, so I am anticipating to
add more venues to the tour, especially around the UK, but I really need to get some sponsorship in order to do this.”
The public response to the Bog Standard Gallery has been extremely positive, especially considering it all started with a
dissertation topic. For Melanie, it is only the beginning. She is now working on other projects and continues to collect
pictures of toilet signs from around the world, helping people see the mundane and ordinary of every day life in a new way.
patience to sit and do coloring. I still hate it to this day! I think it's because I just didn't see it as creative to put blocks of
color into something someone else had drawn,” Melanie said. “As much as I am creative, I don't like unrealistic films with
people that fly and things. I think this is why all my work is based around mundane and everyday things. I like it to be
realistic and for people to be able to relate to it—to look at things they are used to seeing but in a totally different way.”
“I have been so extremely lucky with the art teachers I have had, and it is without a doubt down to their encouragement and
motivation that gave me the confidence and inspired me to keep pursuing my studies within art,” Melanie said. “I have also
been very lucky with my tutors at university, as well as the great support of the technician who has helped to make Bog
Standard Gallery possible.”
So what exactly is the Bog Standard Gallery? It all began in July of 2006 when Melanie was considering what topic to use
for her dissertation at MMU. “I have always been drawn to the design of toilet signs,“ Melanie explained. “I had a pair of
earrings, one a male and one a female toilet sign symbol and then went on to receive a bracelet. I decided to investigate
whether cultural differences were apparent in the design of toilet signs.”
She decided to do a comparison between a Middle Eastern and a European country. Travelling around Israel, Melanie took
photographs of every toilet sign she came across. She also did the same in the United Kingdom, gathering approximately
200 examples of toilet signs for each country. Once she had the pictures, she began to take apart the differences between
them and form a series of statistics based on her findings. Some of these differences included how the drawings on the
signs were dressed, whether they had hair, if they were represented with a whole body or just a head—altogether Melanie
came up with about 40 variables. With these statistics, along with other research she had done on the matter, Melanie
began to draw some fascinating conclusions.
“The incorporation of pictograms within a toilet sign is important due to the problems occurring with textual based signs
owing to language barriers,” Melanie said in her dissertation. “Political correctness is evidently a difficultly arising from
how symbols are depicted in toilet signs. It is important to note that literature describing historic views indicates that this
problem was not apparent at the time; trousers symbolised masculinity while skirts symbolised femininity. In modern
society however, it has become an increasingly challenging problem. In my research, I posed the question, 'Is it possible to
create the perfect sign?
“In my opinion, as much as it is possible to try and cater for as many groups of people feasible on a sign, it will always be at
the unavoidable exclusion of other groups.”
Here are a few interesting statistics Melanie gathered in her research: “Eight percent of toilet signs in the UK have hair.
Rectangular is the most popular shape for a toilet sign in both Israel and the UK. Most toilet signs in Israel have a border
around them, whereas less than a third of the ones in the UK do have a border. The majority of toilet signs in the UK are
black and silver and the same from one place to the next, whereas in Israel they are less commercial and more often
customized or made as a one-off.”
For Melanie, this was only the beginning. “Overall, even though the parameters for the design of toilet signs at first
appeared to be quite limited, I observed larger cultural differences than I anticipated,” she reported in her dissertation.
“However, further observations are needed to establish a true understanding of these differences.”
So she set out on a mission to travel the world and take pictures of toilet signs where ever she could find them. Her travels
took her to six more countries including Italy, Germany and Ireland, and next she will travel to South Africa at the end of
August.
There was only one problem left to solve—where would she display her work? “I had exhibited my photographs of toilet
signs in the toilets of a couple of art galleries, and the reaction was very positive,” she said. “I then decided that it would be
good to give them a home of their own so that it was easier for the collection to travel. You can imagine how long it was
taking to stick up 500 photographs only to take them down and put them somewhere else!”
This is when Melanie came up with the idea of converting an old portable toilet into a travelling art gallery. She began to
call rental companies to enquire as to how to purchase a unit. Eventually, after many calls she found a distributor in Eccles
and went to select a portable loo.
“It felt like I was in porta-loo heaven—there were just rows upon rows of them in every color you could imagine!” she
exclaimed.
She purchased an old unit for £125 (or approximately $250) and had it delivered to her studio. When it arrived, Melanie
found it was still filled with water and chemicals, and she began a complete renovation of the loo, removing the toilet and
pipes, scrubbing the entire unit down and painting the walls white. She also laid an oak floor. Then the pictures went into
place; 24 of them with text to describe the art. The mission was to make it feel just like a normal gallery. Thus it was so
named the Bog Standard Gallery and put on display for the public.
“This project will become part of my assessment for my degree and will be exhibited at the degree show,” she explained. “I
spent 100 hours working on the porta-loo! It is now part of a series I am working on that involves instillations in portable
spaces.”
“The gallery had its first exhibition in south Manchester in April, in which there was an opening ceremony where a ribbon
was cut by the curator of the Whitworth art gallery. The Mayor of Manchester was also present. The next venue will be the
MMU degree show from June 15- 24 in the Holden Gallery at the All Saints campus on Oxford Road. Each day I am
receiving emails from people from all parts of the world asking where they can go to visit the gallery, so I am anticipating to
add more venues to the tour, especially around the UK, but I really need to get some sponsorship in order to do this.”
The public response to the Bog Standard Gallery has been extremely positive, especially considering it all started with a
dissertation topic. For Melanie, it is only the beginning. She is now working on other projects and continues to collect
pictures of toilet signs from around the world, helping people see the mundane and ordinary of every day life in a new way.
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July 2007
Serving the American Liquid Waste Industry Since 2002