Remagine Art Prize 2023

Not Wasted was created with recycled television screen glass and recycled brass wire with redeemed chipboard and polycarbonate sheet for the plinth. The only component not rescued from landfill is the LED spotlight mounted in the plinth to light the glass.

This work is a self-portrait and illustrates my care-taker roles under my Southern Arrernte Grandmothers Law of taking care of country, and of shattering silences. The silence refers to dominant culture taboos around speaking openly about death and dying, and this work is a self-portrait illustrating my journey through lung cancer and subsequent metastatic brain tumours.

It is also about taking care of country despite being an urban based First Nations artist who has used various forms of western technology which are now redundant,and which contemporary society discards with no clue as to what harm it may be doing to the Mother who nurtures us.

I am an artist who has been using waste house and industrial paint and recycling it in my paintings for years. My signature work creates an illusion of 3-dimensional corrugated iron metal panels, with text painted on them using names or statements that have context and meaning for the buyer. People are often surprised that the work is a 2-dimensional painting on canvas.

After making a trip to the local tip to recycle my broken whitegoods, household items and other discarded junk, I was amazed by the massive pile of industrial and household waste. Seeing all that waste inspired me to do a painting of the scrap metal I’d seen and turn that image of waste into a work of art.

When creating a photographic image, we rarely consider what happens to our electronic/digital cameras, computers and so on. All of which have a lifespan measured in less than a decade.

A well managed eWaste stream is ideal for disposal, lest substances such as Polybrominated Biphenyls seep into our streams and eventually find their way into every living thing on this planet (they are measurable in whales).

To depict this photographically, I scoured the industrial areas of Hornsby to make camera obscura from waste: a PC shell, oil can from a restaurant, styrene food delivery box and cardboard.

In both art and photography, the frame to the image is very crucial. In documenting local industrial areas and framing the photographs with the very waste from these areas we can see the environmental impacts of our activities and have the opportunity to make changes.

I turned a beat-up skateboard scavenged from a council clean up, into an imitation of a silk painting. My work is loosely based on a hanging scroll by Ming Dynasty master Qiu Ying (Fording the Stream, After Liu Songnian).

I wanted to connect with my identity as a Chinese-Australian artist and found Ying’s work in a 1989 magazine, also in a council clean up. The monsters I added refer to the destructive forces around us that are so familiar they are part of the landscape.

To me, a monster is excessive consumerism that thrives on cold indifference to the fact that many of the things we buy are slave-made. The waste generated when these things are discarded - that’s another monster.

Tantalisingly cheap online stores and their next-day deliveries seem like wonderlands, but they are wastelands that create landfill. If we are curious about waste, it will be harder for monsters to hide.

This work utilises discarded crockery destined for landfill and explores the seemingly unforgiving nature of the tesserae. By manipulating and reimagining rigid forms to create this artwork, audiences are drawn into the piece and are encouraged to explore the textures and forms through touch. From wasteland to wonderland!

As an artist, I draw inspiration from nature and its intricate beauty. In my hand-woven sculpture, Ethereal Wasteland, I have transformed cast-off organic material to explore the ephemeral nature of flora ever changing through growth, decay, and regeneration.

Through the tactile nature of weaving, I aim to capture the vitality and resilience of nature that transcends even death. By stripping back and weaving the Bangalow palm inflorescence, I delve into the hidden identity of detritus, revealing its inherent value that is often overlooked and discarded.

This artwork serves as a reminder to treasure and protect the gifts of nature, urging viewers to consider the importance of environmental sustainability. I strive to raise awareness and inspire a deeper connection with nature, encouraging viewers to embrace their responsibility as stewards of the earth.

The fashion industry is the second largest polluter in the world after the oil industry with almost 80% of unwanted textiles in Australia ending up in landfill. Eight billion garments are produced globally each year and 400% more clothes are produced now compared to 20 years ago.

I created this work by blending my landscape and still-life photographs with artificial intelligence, then digitally manipulating the images with photo-editing software. A stand of mangroves swathed in fabric struggles to survive, pointing to the devastating impact of textile waste on the environment. I hope this haunting imagery serves as a reminder of the waste and excess of our consumer culture and addiction to fast fashion, inspiring viewers to think twice before throwing out their clothes, to buy fewer garments, to purchase second-hand clothes, to buy clothes from sustainable brands or to donate their clothing to a charity.

The Wave was inspired after finding plastic containers, a watch, toys, and other discarded items on several Sydney beaches. Using a friend’s unwanted rusted steel rods, aged fibreglass resin and matting, I decided to upcycle everything and make a wave as a statement and contrast to sculptor Inge King’s Forward Surge.