From cigarette butts to ‘Just Married’ cubes: Artist sells Taylor Swift wedding venue trash for Rs 1.2 lakh

3 min readNew DelhiJul 13, 2026 05:19 PM IST

Gignac sold around 50 pieces, all of which reportedly sold out within 24 hours of being listed online. (Photo: @taylorswift/ @BBC/Instagram)

A New York City artist is making waves after he turned discarded garbage from outside the wedding venue of Taylor Swift and NFL player Travis Kelce into an art project, earning around $1,250 (approximately Rs 1.2 lakh).

According to AFP, artist Justin Gignac collected litter from outside Madison Square Garden in New York on July 4, a day after the celebrity couple got married.

Thousands of fans had gathered outside the venue, hoping to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds and the star-studded guest list.

“It’s getting a lot of Swifties who just want a tangential piece of the wedding. I try to commemorate cultural moments in New York City, and this seemed to be a big one, so just capturing a little time capsule from that moment in time,” Gignac told AFP.

From cigarette butts to candy wrappers

Gignac collected bottle caps, cigarette butts, police caution tape, plastic utensils, straws, a single left AirPod, Ring Pop candy wrappers, and other discarded objects left behind by the crowds.

He sealed the collected items in small transparent plastic cubes, labelled them “sculptures”, and sold each piece for $25 (about Rs 2,400). The cubes were designed to prevent odour and leakage while transforming the garbage into collectable memorabilia linked to one of the year’s biggest celebrity events, the report added.

Gignac sold around 50 pieces, all of which reportedly sold out within 24 hours of being listed online.

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Maintaining the wedding theme, Gignac tied some of the discarded items together and stamped each cube with “JUST&T MARRIED.”

The artist said all the items were collected from public areas outside the security barriers and that none of the garbage came from inside the wedding venue.

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‘It’s smart’

The video has since gone viral, prompting a wave of reactions.

“I mean it’s smart. Also, add some more junk (just rake from the ocean there’s enough, brand it as Taylor’s trash collect all the money and invest in sustainable energy and eradicating hunger and water shortages wouldn’t that be great),” a user wrote.

“This is so bizarre. Dude figured out a way to make money from nothing. People paid for literal GARBAGE. Wild,” another user commented.

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“Most probably did not get bought by swifties but opportunist investors with the hope that the price will climb,” a third user reacted.