Reclaimed materials, mixed media (reconfigurable anamorphic floor installation)

246 x 500 x 83 cm

Wall of Waste? (WOW?) is a reconfigurable anamorphic floor installation that was conceived to challenge perceptions about waste and to encourage consumers to think twice before throwing out items that could be reused or recycled. It is about reconsidering the lifespan of materials typically thought of as ‘waste’. By learning to see beauty and potential in all materials, we can extend their value and meaning beyond their originally intended use. 

The installation was constructed using cardboard, plastic, packaging and various other materials and found objects that were salvaged and locally sourced over the course of three weeks leading up to The Australasian Waste & Recycling Expo (AWRE) in Sydney in July 2023 where the installation was first exhibited.

Aesthetically inspired by art forms such as collage and assemblage and using a colour palette and simple geometric shapes inspired by Bauhaus design principles, one intent of WOW? is to demonstrate that seemingly disparate objects and unrelated materials—in this case discarded items and ‘waste’—can be pieced together to form a new and cohesive whole. In addition, the arrangement of the monumental columns can create a ‘Tabula scalata’ effect, wherein a different message is revealed/displayed depending on the viewer’s movement and point of view (an anamorphic effect sometimes that is often used in billboards, signage and lenticular printing). In this way, by conceptually and literally presenting ‘waste’ from a new angle and ‘outside the box’, the goal is to expedite the transition from a Take-Make-Waste system to one more akin to ‘Take Waste and Make something new with it!’ 

Despite being a critique of consumerism and our culture of excess, single-use and disposability (which only perpetuates the waste problem), the overall message of WOW? is meant to be positive and hopeful. If nothing else, one solution to the world’s waste problem is to find creative new uses for materials that would otherwise end up in landfill. Although this may not address the underlying problem of society’s current linear system of Take-Make-Waste and the fact that we need to dramatically reduce what we produce in the first place and curb the extraction of non-renewable resources, WOW? is designed to draw attention to the unique potential of art to pose questions and help shift the conversation about waste.