9 772201 555009
ISSN 2201-5558
AUS: $12.50 NZ: $14.50
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Rethink
Reuse
Reduce
Recycle
Editorial Editor and Chief Junkie Selena Buckingham ‒ selena@junkies.com.au Editorial Team Copy Editor/Writer Michelle Coxall – theknownworldbookshop@ gmail.com Contributors Selena Buckingham, Sian Blohm, Sophia Livitsanis, Damon Bereziat, Erica Louise, Hugo Race, Gerrard Elson, Jo Canham, Bella L. Day, Susie Elliott, Helen Mathwin, Michelle Stephenson, Rebecca Sullivan, Damien Coulthard, La Vergne Lehmann, Hey Ho Let’s Grow & Alan MacLeod Design Content Design and Layout designstudioballarat.com.au Photographers Louisa West Sian Blohm
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Illustrator Louisa West Rosie Leech Advertising Advertising Coordinator Kirien Withers – kirien@junkies.com.au Website junkies.com.au Subscriptions junkies.com.au/subscribe Social Media Facebook facebook.com/junkiesmagazine Instagram instagram.com/junkies-magazine Pinterest au.pinterest.com/junkiesmag Print Finsbury Green (World’s best practice ISO9001:2008 Quality & ISO14001:2004 Environmental Management Systems certification; providing carbon-neutral services). Distributor Aust & N.Z. Distributor Gordon & Gotch For retail distribution and sales email advertise@junkies.com.au Disclaimer Junkies Magazine Australia Pty Ltd takes all care but accepts no responsibility for unsolicited materials. Junkies Magazine Australia Pty Ltd holds copyright to all content unless otherwise stated. While every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of the information in this publication, the publishers accept no responsibility or liability for any errors, omissions or resultant consequences including any loss or damage arising from reliance on information in this publication.
Creative Concept & Design Louiseann King Photography Danny Wootton
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46 Contents Features
Regulars
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About ~ The Surfboard Re-Evolution ~ Planet Ark Fashion Junkies ~ Magpie Goose Art Junkies ~ Interactive Experiential Installations ~ Cartoni Containers Contained ~ You Only Live Once ~ Metal Movement Cover Story ~ All that Returns Design Junkies ~ Flamboyant Upholstery Home Junkies ~ A Sustainable Life
People And Places Junkies Mail Community Junkies Things We Love Junkies News Eco Finds Vintage Finds Food Junkies Craft Junkies Sustainable Junkies Book Junkies
eveworkwear.com.au
STYLISH TOUGH FUNCTIONAL
People & Places Artists and Designers
Places and Retailers
Louiseann King louiseannking.com.au
fortyfivedownstairs fortyfivedownstairs.com
Bridgett Artise born-againvintage.com
Munash Organics munash.com.au
Magpie Goose magpiegoose.com
Blarney Books and Art blarneybooks.com.au
Britta Sorrensen mrropenstudios.com.au/member/ britta-sorrenson
Food Rebecca Sullivan rebeccasullivan.com.au
Michaelangelo Russo michelangelorusso.com
Organisations
Pamela Irving pamelairving.com.au
Recreate @recreatecommunity
Georgie Seccull georgieseccull.com
Planet Ark planetark.org
Liz Gannon gannoncreative.net
Surfriders Association surfrider.org.au
Photographers and Illustrators
Lousy Ink lousyink.com
Danny Wootton dannywootton.com.au Louisa West Studio louisaweststudio.com.au Rosie Leech rosieleech.com Sian Blohm designstudioballarat.com.au Brian Rodgers Photography brp.net.au Rowena Naylor Photography stocksy.com/rowenanaylor
BE Designs bedesigns.com.au Vinnies Resew resew@vinnieswgtn.org.nz Grampians Central West Waste & Resource Recovery Group recyclingrevolution.com.au Pure Energy pureenergyuk.com
From the Editor Hello fellow Junkies! We are so lucky here in Junkies’ home town of Ballarat. There is a great arts scene and lots of community groups, activities and festivals that embody the ethos of our magazine. We only wish we had more time to get to all the great events that are happening in our neighbourhood! Check out our Junkies’ News page to get a glimpse of just some of them and learn what we have been up to lately. This issue we are captivated and moved by Louiseann King’s work, our cover story, which so evocatively captures the fragility of nature. Pamela Irving’s mosaic artistry takes us on a whimsical cartoonlike journey that will make you smile. We deconstruct and reconstruct our style with fashion tips by UK author Bridgett Artise and her book Born Again Vintage. We look into the world of upcycled surfboards and gain an insight into some of the coast’s more eco-aware wave-barons. We catch up with renowned artist Georgie Seccull, whose work has recently featured in recent a Gasworks Arts Park exhibition and won numerous awards. Despite her busy schedule, Georgie found time to chat to us about her humble beginnings and her love of metal. We have a trug-full of sustainable tips to make you sit up from your downward dog pose and become that eco-warrior that you know you are.
Don’t look for big things, do small things with great love. Mother Teresa
Letters Dear Selena and all your crew,
Dear Junkies,
Thank you sooo much for my free subscription last year. We moved from South Yunderup three months ago and the local newsagent stocks Junkies, much to my delight. So I am able to but it there and am currently enjoying the April issue.
Selena xx
Thank you for such an encouraging, stimulating and motivating magazine. I love it.
Thanks again for another edition of sustainable stories and inspirational people. I think that your Junkies News is a great addition and I look forwarding to seeing it evolve. Also, well done on holding another great Rethink exhibition. As an artist, I appreciate the time and energy that you have taken to highlight those working with materials that are traditionally over looked and not held in high-esteem.
Guest Illustrator
Regards,
Much love,
Jude L
Roz
Remember each day counts! Let’s make every day a new opportunity to have your say and make your voice for change heard. Remember: together we are stronger.
Rosie Leech is an Edinburgh based illustrator, designer and collector of mustard yellow jumpers. She works with particular reference to narrative reportage and printmaking. To learn more about Rosie, visit: rosieleech.com
Hello there! Send us some Junk Mail – tell us what you love about Junkies and you will be in the draw to win a one year subscription! You can reach us at: hello@junkies.com.au or
PO Box 509 Buninyong VIC 3357
Recreate A community rethinking waste
Words by Faye McGoldrick Photography Junkies Team
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When Junkies recently visited Adelaide to attend the Bowerbird Market, we explored the Barossa Valley and its surrounding areas. We were excited to investigate the community-based enterprise at Mount Pleasant – Recreate – jam-packed full of creative endeavours that utilise all the materials that find their way here. Faye McGoldrick, the coordinator at Mount Pleasant Natural Resource Centre (MPNRC), shared her passion for this fantastic place and told us what she loves most about Recreate. Community members always enjoy the opportunity to get hands on and learn new (and old!) ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle “waste”. Recreate is a creative reuse centre, shop, materials depot and workshop space run by the not-for-profit community group the Mount Pleasant Natural Resource Centre Inc. Focused on driving behaviour change around waste production and excess material consumption, Recreate inspires and challenges people to rethink their own actions, by transforming old wares and waste into useful and beautiful items. Waste items that would traditionally be discarded and end up in landfill are donated to Recreate, where a team of volunteers busily sorts, repairs, dismantles and recreates. The Rethink Waste workshops teach community members skills to actively upcycle and divert “waste” from landfill. “It is a really fun project that gets people thinking before they throw something in the bin”, Faye tells us. “We are always asking how can an item be reused, recreated, or repaired so that it has increased or new value.” Recreate is a great community project where people come together to share ideas and skills around creative recycling and access upcycled craft supplies for their own recreate projects, and it provides vital fundraising through the sale of quality upcycled goods and community workshops. Run as a social enterprise, all funds go back into the Sustainable Living projects of the Mount Pleasant Natural Resource Centre Inc and support their volunteers with equipment, training, and project officer employment.
“I love seeing what volunteers have produced each week: be it cute kids toys from wood offcuts, beautiful wall sculptures from old and damaged books, or a bright floor rug constructed from rescued sheeting”, says Faye. Recreate runs regular adults’ and kids’ Rethink Waste workshops so people can learn new skills to reuse, renew, revive, repair and recycle. From natural dyeing, crochet basketry, upcycled garden sculpture to setting up your home worm farm and compost, Recreate delivers a variety of small group training and skills development. Its range of Australian Curriculum linked workshops also provides hands-on fun and learning for kindergartens, schools and child care centres.
“It’s like a garden: nurture and tend to it and it will grow and the rewards are wonderful.” “We have developed a range of craft kits that are a great way to encourage materials reuse and upcycling, but can also provide an opportunity to engage with young children around broader sustainability and environmental issues”, says Faye. Some of the kits include Native Bee Insect Hotels, the DIY Micro Herb Kit, and upcycled Coaster Flower Press Kits. Nestled in the Community Sharing Garden, and originally an old stone stable that was saved from demolition and renovated by volunteers using recycled materials, Recreate is much more than an upcycle centre. The Mount Pleasant Natural Resource Centre also established a weekly Farmers Market, and operates a Grow Free Cart, a Little Free Library and a Plant Nursery as part of the Recreate complex.
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And the new Share Shed is providing expanded facilities for volunteers to work in and for running community workshops. This combination has created a vibrant community space with volunteers and community gathering to share ideas and knowledge. This welcoming space is open to all to come in and enjoy a cuppa whilst browsing, meeting friends in the sharing garden and having a free forage, or chatting about gardening, worm farms, revegetation, upcycling and more. The community networking and sharing culture these projects have built continues to develop the community’s resilience, self-sufficiency and sustainability.
“I love seeing what volunteers have produced each week…”
“How we use and harvest resources, consume and produce waste are really a key driving force behind the negative human impact on our environment and ecosystems”, says Faye. “It is so important to create positive change and a community that provides good support, networks and cares for one another is much more likely to embrace environmental care as an intrinsic part of how we live.” “Creating this welcoming supportive space for nurturing community sharing has been many years in the making; it has involved many community, government and funding partnerships; much passion and commitment from staff and volunteers; and a vision of how we can come together to create change, solve problems, and reconnect with our environment”, Faye tells us.
“There is still so much to be done, but it’s like a garden: nurture and tend to it and it will grow and the rewards are wonderful”, Faye says. “Watching friendships grow, the ‘ah-ha’ moment when someone learns how to use a power drill and can repair something themselves, the gradual change in confidence and action towards treading more lightly on our planet and unconditional sharing make the hard work so worth it.”
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Junkies News Hi and welcome to Junkies news. It’s a little bit from us, it’s a little bit from you and a little bit of eco-news we picked up along the way.
Sustainable Fashion Week Grampians Central West Waste Resource Recovery Group will be presenting the second Sustainable Fashion Week in the Ballarat region from Saturday 17 August. Kicking off the event is Clare Press, Vogue Australia’s Sustainability editor-at-large and author of the Wardrobe Crisis book and podcast. Erin Lewis-Fitzgerald who is maker and mender will also be talking about ‘Mending as Revolution’. The launch will finish with an Upcycled Fashion Parade and a clothes swap event run by the Clothing Exchange. On Sunday 18 August there will be a round table skills session at Federation University with Fashion Designer and upcycler Bethany Jakob. Participants will be able to learn a new skill – bring along an op shop find and ‘hack’ it up to make something new. Other workshops include Japanese Sachiko mending, finding your op shop style, recycling, refashioning, rag rug making, natural dyeing, mending and vintage op shop tours. Check out recyclingrevolution.com.au for the program and bookings for workshops. < 14
Junkies Out and About Over recent months we have been keeping ourselves busy around the region. We attended the Clunes Booktown Festival, with a stall run by the fledgling addition to the Junkies team, Bella. Held every year in May, Booktown features the largest collection of rare, out-of-print and collectible books in Australia. Next on our agenda was the Apron Festival which runs in conjunction with Ballarat Heritage Weekend. So many creative peeps out there! Junkies sponsored the Travel Apron prize and had the unenviable task of choosing the winner from the outstanding entrants. We were also a sponsor of the Victorian Beekeeping Clubs Conference 2019 which was held at Hyatt Place in Melbourne on 15 June. The aim of this annual conference is to connect hobbyist, recreational, sideline and commercial beekeepers from across Victoria and always features informative and inspiring presenters including researchers, educators, entrepreneurs, biosecurity specialists, innovators, and authors. Of course, Costa was there hosting the event with his usually enthusiasm.
Again in June, we also ventured to the Warrnambool and Mortlake Libraries where we talked about the magazine and gave the attendees insights into the stories we tell and the people we are lucky enough to meet. We’ve met so many fab people in so many fab places! ― junkies news ―
Student Eco-Warriors Here at Junkies we pride ourselves on igniting conversations around issues of sustainability and recycling. We have been delighted to receive submissions from teachers showing us how they have been utilising Junkies as a resource for their school projects. We thought we would share the following correspondence with you in case you need a bit of inspiration in your own classrooms. It began with a learning theme of ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink’ in the classroom, fuelled by The War on Waste (ABC TV) and fed by Junkies magazine, with a sprinkling of information from YouTube. The students of M36, the Special Options class at John Pirie Secondary School, have turned into eco-warriors. We focused our efforts on the big three – plastic straws, single use shopping bags and disposable coffee cups. Junkies has become our ‘go to’ source of relevant and interesting facts about the 4R’s in our classroom. In an effort to get our message out there the class has engaged with Molly Steer and her StrawNoMore campaign, convincing our school canteen to shift to paper straws, and taking the message out to members of the wider community. In learning about recycling bins and shopping bags we discovered the problems with soft plastics. Then we took on the school staff, creating our own training video about rubbish and recycling, and asking them to bring us their soft plastics. Every couple of weeks we sort, compress and weigh our haul. We walk across to the local supermarket (both Woolworths and Coles will collect soft plastics) and add to their RedPlas collection. So far we have returned approximately four kilograms of plastic. This may not sound like much but it certainly looked it.
The Year 11 English ATAR course requires that students develop analytical, critical and creative thinking through their engagement with a range of texts. As the theme for Unit 1 of this course is ‘Sustainability’, we decided to analyse an edition of Junkies magazine. Each student had their own copy of Issue 10, and they critically engaged with specific articles. They looked at the language features and text structures of the article as a whole, and also used the writing style as a model for their own creative writing. Looking critically at the magazine as a form and as a text was great for students who typically only analyse traditional texts such as novels or films. Students were also encouraged to develop some research on a topic presented in the magazine, so that they could find out more about different areas of sustainability.
RedPlas, a Melbourne company, very kindly sent us a sample pack showing us what happens to the various plastics they collect and, of course, their brochures. Our next project is to raise enough money to buy our own RedPlas seat for outside our classroom. Our last project will be a public presentation, inspired by Junkies, in the form of an eco-warrior fashion parade. The class is looking forward to its next adventure. Deb Teggilas John Pirie Secondary School ― junkies news ―
The girls enjoyed their unit on Junkies magazine! It introduced many of them to areas of recycling, sustainability and the environment that they were not previously aware of. Carolyn Gale St Mary’s Anglican Girls School
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Let’s Get it Sorted One of the challenges in educating the community about recycling is the lack of consistency of recycled materials that are accepted by councils and the recycling processors. The result has been confusion and as a result items going into the recycling bin that should not be there. Can we simplify this by focussing just of the key issues? Most of what goes into our recycling bin relates to packaging – so perhaps that should be our main focus. By doing this the message becomes:
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Glass bottles & jars Plastic containers that hold their shape Milk and juice containers Steel, aluminium and aerosol containers (empty) Paper, cardboard and magazines – not tied or shredded
Keep them all loose and not in a plastic bag. Make sure containers are empty – give them a rinse but they do not need to be spotless. If in doubt – Leave it Out! Soft plastics can be recycled through the Redcycle program at participating Coles and Woolworths Supermarkets. Items that need to go in your rubbish or organics bin rather than the recycling bin are:
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Clothing Crockery Nappies Medical Waste Food and garden waste Window glass, mirrors and pyrex
Getting our recycling right has to involve everyone – we all create the waste through our consumption. Let’s get it sorted.
Want more recycling tips and solutions? Go to recyclingrevolution.com.au and check out their upcoming events and workshops.
Loving our Locality Join us in our hometown. Coming up: • • •
Ballarat Winter Festival, with myriad experiences to warm your heart, soul, and belly The Ballarat International Foto Biennale, Australia’s leading photographic festival White Night Ballarat, featuring local, interstate and international artists, musicians and performers who will weave a spell over the city in a celebration of art, culture and creativity, to send us into the warmer weather with a spring in our step
Head to visitballarat.com.au for all the details.
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Junkies on the Road Early May saw us head off on our yearly pilgrimage to Adelaide for the Bowerbird Design Market, which celebrates highquality design and artisanship, fresh ideas and innovation. The Bowerbird Design Market always delivers, and this year there were over 180 fantastic food vendors and great stall holders. We were delighted to have Evan from Windsor Lane as our neighbour. We so love his excellent shirts and wry sense of humour!
Also, on the agenda was some fun op shopping while exploring the local region, including a visit to the iconic Jam Factory in the Barossa Valley, which showcases and celebrates local, national and international work by leading and emerging artists, craftspeople and designers. We send a warm thank you to our lovely hosts while we were in the Barossa Sue Garrard and her partner Dieter for feeding us and making us welcome in their lovely home. We totally love with this place and can’t wait for next year!
Be sure to head over to munash. com.au to check their events page, which shows when the next workshops on sustainable soil health and natural farming practices will be held.
In August we are very much looking forward to Michelangelo Russo’s exhibition at fortyfivedownstairs gallery in Melboune as media partners and sponsors. You can read about his work on page 42.
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THE POINT By Naomi Keenan (artist/writer, mother, teacher) With plastic pollution escalating, more animals are dying. This mixed media piece represents our trees and animals being lost to plastic. I collected plastic from WA beaches where our children play, birds fly overhead, and tides ebb and flow taking with it materials from the shoreline into our seas. Combining these two worlds together shows a utopia versus a dystopia. The variety of debris found in seaweed and on the sand is phenomenal. Lolly-pop sticks are readily found, as are margarine tabs labeled PULL (sadly connotative of having to pull these plastics from deceased animals).
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Plastic contains chemicals such as bisphenol-A (otherwise known as BPA), phthalates, amongst others. These are oily poisons that repel water and “hitch” a ride on other plastics. Fish consume these chemicals and the toxins are slowly released. We consume the fish and ingest these toxins. It is frightening how much plastic is washed ashore on our beaches. We need to take better care of our earth in order to take better care of ourselves, and our children’s future! Please avoid the use of plastic where possible, recycle, and if you see plastic, pick it up.
GIVE AWAYS!
We have teamed up with our eco friends and have come up with some great products for you to win.
To be in to the draw, simply head to our website, fill in the form and select the eco find you would like:
junkies.com.au/giveaways Entries close 6 September 2019 See our website for Terms and Conditions < 18
Saltbush Kitchen – Australian Bushfoods Saltbush Kitchen takes you on an Australian bushfood adventure with their range of culinary products including spices, herbs, salts and syrups. Their concept store, now located in Buninyong Victoria (only an hour from Melbourne) is a sensory experience immersing you in the sounds, tastes and aromas of the Australian bush. Visit and discover their incredible range of native foods. The Saltbush Kitchen Bushfood Spice Pack includes your choice of five Australian bushfood spices: lemon myrtle, wattleseed, strawberry gum, aniseed myrtle, pepperberry, native thyme, kunzea, mountain pepper, saltbush or peppermint gum. RRP And if you can’t make it to Buninyong, you can visit them online: saltbushkitchen.com.au
Gemma Vendetta This perfect package includes a Gemma Vendetta’s award-winning mascara & awesome bronzer blush valued at $90.95. A growing consciousness of nasty chemicals in hair and beauty products led Gemma Vendetta to develop her own range of mineral cosmetics that work harmoniously with your body, and nature. Made without nano-particles, harmful fillers and binders, Gemma Vendetta’s cosmetics are also free from parabens, synthetic fragrances and mineral oils. Gemma Vendetta’s mission is to provide high-quality, highdefinition, safe, gender-neutral, 100% vegan and cruelty-free mineral cosmetics for those who care about themselves, our animals, and the planet. Make the switch that your body and health will thank you for. To learn more about Gemma Vendetta’s range*, head to: gemmavendetta.com.au * Accredited by Choose Cruelty Free Australia ― eco finds ―
Turner + Turner Turner + Turner is a collaboration between Neil and Suellen Turner. Together, they have created a range of homewares that are both classic and modern. They believe that the value of each piece is enhanced by investing time and craftsmanship. These are heirloom pieces that last generations. Each piece of West Australian timber tells its own story. The whole process can take months: from sourcing and drying the timber, to turning and sealing it. And each piece of timber is unique, requiring a different response. In the hands of artisan Neil Turner, the beauty and history of each piece is revealed. Who wouldn’t want this natural edge bowl valued at $80? turnerandturner.com.au
The Trig Studio Nestled on the slopes of Mt Arthur, overlooking the village of Lilydale in Northern Tasmania, The Trig offers a one-bedroom self-contained eco studio in a natural, peaceful environment. This unique architect designed studio is luxuriously appointed and showcases contemporary furniture crafted in Tasmania. It has an outdoor bath, organic linen, and a great vinyl selection to play on the record player. Only 20 a minute drive from Launceston, the package includes one night accommodation for two people and includes an organic breakfast hamper.
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RRP $260 thetrig.com.au
Eve Workwear Made for women, by women! Eve Workwear was developed in 2012 to give women a choice with their workwear. Our best sellers – the 2678 pants in denim. Be sure to enter to win a pair valued $115. To see the full range head to: eveworkwear.com.au
GIVE AWAYS!
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The Surfboard Re-Evolution
Words by Damon Bereziat Photography BRP Photography
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Surfers appear to live as one with their environment. A reasonably healthy bunch, into self-preservation and fun, in tune with the elements. If human wave-riders could be compared to any saltwater counterpart, it’d be dolphins, no two ways about it. Dolphins don’t need so much as an existential thread whereas the upright wave rider will require at least a pair of shorts, bikini or neoprene wetsuit. A surf-craft of choice or four, with most intermediate surfers requiring a ‘quiver’. Here’s where a contemporary surfer’s clean green free-andeasy image gets a little sideways. Traditional surfboards are comprised of toxic materials derived largely from petrochemicals. There’s an expanded polystyrene core or equivalent, fibreglass skin, polyurethane and epoxy resins, hardeners, plastics, paints and god knows in the mix. It’s impossible to work with this stuff (for long) without dedicated PPE. Inhaling fumes created when ‘glassing’ a board will shorten a life, and the ultra-lite itchy dust must be contained, bagged and tagged. The process is improving but waste is still an issue. Most of it ends up in landfill or worse. Whatever surfing means to the individual, it is growing exponentially. Since 2015, nearly 6 million surfboards hit the US market alone. Australian manufacturers contributed 45000 units, Mexico around 300000, but the most mind-bending statistic is a staggering 4.4million originating from China, with other Asian exports making up the numbers. Manufacturing surfboards is much more profitable when labour’s cheap and there’s lax, if any, environmental protection laws. On the Sunshine Coast it’s estimated around 50000 crew surf. With the population predicted to hit half a million by 2050 the line-up’s going to look a lot more crowded. Not everyone that grew-up or has chosen to settle here is keen on the hypermodern late-capitalist debt-fuelled consumer-culture of all that glistens. The coast isn’t as green as it once was with tall, gentle trees coming off second best in one-punch coward attacks from brutal bulldozers working in packs, remote controlled by the sinister white-shoe brigade. ― about ―
“No one can count how many foam, fibreglass and plastic surfboards there are in the world.”
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A small but committed resistance of artists, creatives, fairminded surfing types and-the-like, are rethinking through and ahead. You might not even guess they surf. No pretence. No money. They have Instagram and Facebook accounts, but motives are largely personal. They’re not culty types with grand illusions of mass indoctrination. Owen, Brice, Steve-o and Adam are but a few inspirational blokes, acting on ideas, offering alternatives to a global surfboard industry standard set by corporations sailing under the black cash flag. Owen Cavanaugh worked on re-fitting yachts in Europe before turning his hand to another type of art. He rethought canvass, drifting into a niche, immortalising vintage surfboards. Making sure beat-up discoloured planks didn’t end up in the tip. Owen is third generation Sunny Coast, and If you live ‘round here or visited you’ll know him. He left his mark in the best possible way, mainly due to his perfect beach-break machinery-shed mural nestled in what was cane-fields, now signposting the western flank of the new airport-expansion runway. The previous landholder stipulated that the mural stayed well and truly put. Since conception Owen has evolved as an artist, exhibiting around Australia and the world. If there’s a surf art trailblazing type on the coast, it’s Owen, sought-after for his gift in capturing halcyon surf daze. This artisan describes the process as fun but fraught, due to losing sleep about translating the owner’s vision. Tasked with transforming a favourite into a precious beach abode showpiece is a serious responsibility. Owners are always beyond stoked. When he’s off duty as a fireman and not in the water, he couldn’t be more willing to support likeminded souls, such as Brice.
Brice Lowen lived here before the first of his two daughters came along, now fifteen and twelve. The family settled at Warrnambool, Victoria, to be closer to parents. The Southern Ocean is raw, the water’s cold and the biteys are big, but surfing was still a constant. A chef by trade, Brice and his better half got into the restaurant business and made a go of it. If raising kids and running a restaurant wasn’t enough, Brice signed-on for an arts degree, satisfying a creative urge beyond all things culinary. Turns out Brice is as handy with the arts as he is in the kitchen! After three years of critical thinking at uni, the joys of parenthood, and a double decade of watching volumes of broccoli boxes transit the back of a truck, commercial kitchen and industrial bin, Brice put a stop to the insidious waste. He conceived an idea that saves money and helps the environment. Brice rescued broccoli boxes, repurposed them, cut, smoothed and laminated (glued) into a ‘blank’ then handshaped his first home-made surfboard. It worked. Things escalated ever-so-slowly, refining the board-building process. Others took notice of Brice’s practical, aesthetically pleasing surfboards and wanted one for themselves. The wheel turned once more for the family and a move was on the cards. The wide, open Sunshine Coast beaches called. Brice applied for a chef’s position and nailed it. In the months following, the Lowens purchased a home and Brice is excited about pursuing the thoughtful surfboard ideology, linking with folks like shaper Steve Halpin at Coolum.
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Steve-o is inside the surfing vortex so deep that he’s never getting out. Like many in the current economic climate, having a sideline is a thing. It’s more than that for this building contractor. Years of on-the-tools skill is utilised in his latest endeavour. He’s generous with his knowledge but will be the first to tell you that he learns something new each day. What sets him aside from other timber surfboard manufacturers is that wherever possible materials used in his magnificent boards are sourced from demolition and reused. Nothing is wasted at Steve’s shed. The tiniest shred is incorporated into a deck inlay, fin, nose or tail block. Oh-so out of fashion venetian blinds are treasure, begging to be admired again. The finished product looks almost too good to wax-up, but feedback from those experiencing the sensational glide of wood on water is irrefutable. To value-add, Steve-o holds classes where students can build their own timber board. Testament to the powers of a little Aloha, a special request from a Hawaiian elder made its way across the Pacific. Steve-o designed and built a recycled board that will play a small part in the official history of surfing, to be presented to the winner of the prestigious annual Pipeline competition. Steve-o may still be making ‘Pipe’ trophies when one of the up-and-coming local surfing school kids is the recipient.
One of the most mad-keen surfers around is Adam Baldwin, a maths and science teacher at Coolum Beach High. He’s intelligent and a visionary with a commitment to local youth. Competition, performance and personal improvement is part of what he’s about, and he doesn’t see why that means subscribing to the surf brand superpowers, especially not at such a high cost to the environment. Adam applied the sustainability trend to what he loves most. Rather than buying into the hipster retro demographic, he observed, leading with his heart and head, his hands doing the rest. Adam devised an algorithm. Knowledge – as we all know – is a wonderful, powerful and positive thing if employed wisely. Adam didn’t see a reason why he couldn’t re-evolve a practical high-performance surfboard equivalent to what the best were riding. The twist was that he’d make it entirely out of materials destined for or directly from refuse. Like all good scientists, he put his theory to the test, beginning with intense research and step-bystep experimentation. He learnt about bio-resins and carbon neutrality. He toiled in private until he got wind that a nuevo US based surf co. had caught-on, actively doing something about the toxicity conundrum.
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“A small but committed resistance of artists, creatives, fair-minded surfing types and-the-like, are rethinking through and ahead.”
In surfing as it is in life, it pays to be prepared, but it’s really all about timing. The stars aligned with a global competition running for who might best create the anthesis of toxic surfcraft flooding the west. Adam reached out. His entry won as most functional eco-board, resulting in his status elevated to Environmental Brand Ambassador. A modest prize-purse was donated to the Board Meeting Charity in OZ, again in 2018 when he won another gong for examples of what was doable with absolute rubbish. Adam’s boards are officially ratified with Level 1 Eco-Board accreditation and his energetic enthusiasm has emanated to his students and beyond. Since conception of the surfboard industry, re motives were based mainly on financial restraints and environmental concerns never got a look-in. When the art of dancing on waves turned pro in the late 70’s the big four surf brands materialised from the ether followed by a minion of copycats. Update to here and now. No one can count how many foam, fibreglass and plastic surfboards there are in the world. Or measure the damage done by producing them. Like the future of wave-riding and the environment, for Owen, Brice, Steve-o and Adam, there’s has already begun. But, if more follow their example that future might well be better for everyone.
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Planet Ark Unlikely parties join forces to clean our waters and fight plastic waste.
Words by Liam Taylor Photography Elise Catterall
Over the past few years the issue of marine plastic pollution has become one of the most widely discussed environmental topics globally. We’ve seen whales wash up on shore with stomachs full of plastic, countries committing to regulating plastic waste in the UN and, most recently, plastic bags found at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, the ocean’s deepest point.
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Claire Bell, Planet Ark’s Recycling Campaign Manager, said that it was only natural that the two work together on reducing plastic waste. “Cartridges 4 Planet Ark has spent 16 years helping to ensure plastic and other valuable materials are reused instead of being sent to landfill or, even worse, ending up in the ocean. As such, we felt it was high time we recognised the efforts of other not for profits doing their part to keep plastic out of the environment.”
So it’s only right that the topic brought together the unlikely parties of an up-and-coming Australian artist, a behaviour change organisation, an international ocean protection organisation, a surfboard manufacturer and an artist ink producer. The groups have partnered in an effort to ensure cleaner oceans, better recycling outcomes and improved awareness of the issues presented by plastic pollution.
“The groups have partnered in an effort to ensure cleaner oceans…”
Planet Ark was the instigator, reaching out to fellow veteran not-for-profit organisation Surfrider Foundation, surfboard manufacturer D’Arcy Surfboards and artist ink producer Lousy Ink to fight for oceans free of plastic. At Planet Ark’s request, D’Arcy Surfboards produced a surfboard with a design from Lousy Ink artist Freda Chiu printed in 100% recycled artist ink. The surfboard was the prize for guessing the number of printer cartridges recycled through the Cartridges 4 Planet Ark program in the month of May. For every cartridge recycled, Planet Ark made a donation to Surfrider Foundation to keep our oceans and beaches clean.
Susie Crick, the National Chairperson of Surf Riders Association agreed that it’s important to rethink our dependence on plastic.
Cartridges 4 Planet Ark was established in 2003 to deal with a previously unregulated waste stream in used printer cartridges. Australians took to the program immediately and have returned over 42 million cartridges in the 16 years since. That’s enough to fill around 84 Olympic swimming pools. These have been turned into a range of products with the help of the program’s resource recovery partner Close the Loop, including pens, garden beds, road surfaces and incredible artist ink from Lousy Ink.
The announcement came at the same time as the publication of new Planet Ark-commissioned research from Pollinate, which found that 74% of Australians think manufacturers should take more responsibility in managing their products’ end of life.
Surfrider Foundation Australia was founded in 1991 and has dedicated itself to protecting Australia’s coastlines since. It has recently launched the Ocean Friendly campaign, which aims to reduce the amount of single use plastic used by businesses throughout Australia’s extensive coastline communities.
“We all live downstream, so any waste that we capture on land will ensure a healthier and cleaner ocean.”
That same research found that community appetites for policy solutions to plastic waste are growing. Only 14% opposed tax incentives for product manufacturers who use recycled plastic and, surprisingly, only 20% disagreed with a proposal to introduce a levy on plastic products to reduce consumption.
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Born Again Vintage
Words by Bridgett Artise Photography Sofia Emm
About 18 months ago Junkies stumbled upon Born Again Vintage. It instantly became one our favourite upcycling how to’s, with the most innovative and funky outfits created from Bridgett’s unique and interesting combinations of fabric and styles. Bridgett’s modus operandi is deconstructing vintage and period garments, reworking them, and combining them with more modern fabrics. The result? Creative, bold, vibrant and truly inspirational garments, which are reborn and reworn.
What was your most treasured vintage find? I have a lot of treasures but if I were to name one as my most treasured it would be my 1960s Bill Blass coat with matching skirt that was gifted to me by a collector. However, out of pieces I’ve found it’d be my pink paisley Pucci jacket that I believe was a towel and had been reconstructed into a jacket. The fact that I found a reconstructed Pucci was pretty awesome! Why is it important to you to give clothing a second chance in life?
Here’s what we discovered when we settled in for a chat with Bridgett. What drew you into the whole world of fashion? As a teenager I was always the one wearing the opposite of what was “trendy”. I’ve always had an intense desire to not be like everyone else and I knew that the best way to display that was though my style – aka fashion. When did your awareness and your shift towards sustainable upcycled fashion begin? It was a gradual build. When I started, sustainability was neither my intention nor my focus. It was my customers who started to bring into my awareness how sustainable and ecofriendly my clothing was. This, coupled with the research I undertook for my book, opened my eyes to the horrible facts about the fashion industry that people are not aware of. Tell us why you love vintage fashion. What’s not to love! I love the textures, the prints, the vibrancy and most of all the quality. Vintage represents an era when clothes were all we women had to express ourselves, so it’s the stories behind the clothes that I love most. What was the first piece of clothing you upcycled? It started when I put on a fashion show for kids. I reconstructed a bunch of pieces for the first time and when people enquired about buying them after the show, I knew I was onto something.
After doing this for over 10 years, upcycled fashion has definitely turned into a passion for me. Meeting the people who have donated their clothes and hearing their stories about their garments makes me feel connected to each piece. Take us through your process. How do you decide which pieces work together? I am drawn to textures and patterns and I’ll usually instantly see what I can create from them. I cut as soon as I get a chance. However, some pieces need other components and it may take time for me to find a particular piece’s perfect companion. When I do find its counterpart, I know immediately. So each piece has its own process. How easy are the ideas in your book to replicate? The ideas in the book range from easy to intermediate. Some are very easy to create while others definitely need some sewing experience. As with my workshop/classes, I always offer easy, non-sewing experience projects because I don’t want to deter a student from the experience. Are there any rules in your upcycling adventures? Absolutely! The rules are there are no rules! The joy of how I do things is by eliminating rules and boundaries so that anyone can feel comfortable upcycling without feeling that they are doing it “wrong”.
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Models Monroe Douglas, Valbona Bakiu, Bebe, Yue Yu & Alina Rosario
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Do you have formal training as a designer or seamstress? As a kid I made hideous doll’s clothes on my mom’s Singer. Although I graduated from theFashion Institute of Technology in NYC I went in for buying. It wasn’t until after I started this journey that I took extensive classes with an Italian seamstress named Mrs. C. She gave me the confidence to see that although I did things “wrong”, it was right for what I was trying to accomplish. What advice would you give to peeps when they are next looking at their wardrobes? The great thing about moving forward into sustainability is that we now have lots of options. You can upcycle, resell or donate older pieces. I always suggest that people go through their closets seasonally and separate the contents into three categories: keep, resell and donate. Getting into the habit of consciously tweaking your wardrobe makes you aware of your consumption habits. What are your top tips on shopping for vintage items? For newbies I always suggest going with a purpose – it is a bit overwhelming when you don’t have a focus. I also like to point out that our consumption is a problem, so even if you’re shopping at thrift stores, if you don’t need it, don’t buy it! Always turn the garment inside out and hold it up to the light to check for holes or other problems. You have to try on vintage gear because of variations in sizing; don’t assume a size 10 vintage will fit like today’s size 10.
Tip #1 – Giving that Old Sweatshirt New Life for Spring To the sweatshirt you love but that has stopped loving you:
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Lay sweatshirt flat Cut neck out – the larger the cut the bigger the slouch effect Starting at top of shoulder cut 2 inch (6cm) slits about an inch apart from top to bottom Repeat on the other side Pull at each cut to give a hanging effect Cut bottom of ribbing off (optional) If you are feeling creative fabric glue an image from an old tee onto the centre of the sweatshirt
Tip #2 – For Vintage Lovers Polyester can be brutally hot. The best vintage prints are usually polyester. Cut-out tops are in trend so cut out the front shoulder panels of that poly shirt you love: not only will you be cool but you’re cool!
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Magpie Goose Weaving Indigenous stories into ethical fashion
Words by Erica Louise Photography Sarah Mackie & Kate Harding
Bright, bold and unapologetic. These are the three words Maggie McGowan and Laura Egan use to describe their social enterprise fashion label, Magpie Goose. Weaving Indigenous stories into wearable pieces of art, Magpie Goose showcases the lives of those who reside in Australia’s Top End – including Aboriginal artists in WA, NT and QLD. Designs by Indigenous artists are screen printed onto the textiles used in all Magpie Goose collections. These symbolic narratives are then shared with the rest of the world through timeless, ethically made fashion collections.
How and when did the idea of a social enterprise using Indigenous designed textiles first take shape? Maggie and Laura came up with the concept of Magpie Goose in April 2016. The two business partners met in Darwin. At the time, Maggie was working as a lawyer at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA; an Aboriginal legal service). Laura had been working in business startups/grassroots enterprises in partnership with people in remote communities. “The motivation for my transition into fashion stemmed from the work I was doing – I was frustrated by the work for the dole scheme that penalised remote Aboriginal people rather than supporting them to engage in the economy in meaningful ways. We started Magpie Goose to demonstrate that another way was possible”, explains Maggie. When the two women caught up over a beer, Laura asked Maggie what she would be doing if she was not working as a lawyer. “I said I’d love to do something with all the incredible screen printed textiles that are designed by Aboriginal artists in remote communities”, says Maggie.
Thus, the seed for this dynamic duo’s fashion brand took flight in the beak of a certain Magpie Goose. Maggie and Laura brainstormed a business name – something quirky, classic and emblematic of the Top End. Magpie Geese are widespread in northern Australia, where they gather in huge flocks across the floodplains and wet grasslands. Magpie Goose was registered and the domain purchased. The foundations of this rather special fashion label, taking inspiration from the stories told on the red soils of Northern Australia, were firmly set. When did Magpie Goose fly further afield? Things moved quickly for Magpie Goose. Due to Laura’s and Maggie’s existing connections with remote Indigenous communities, they were soon developing samples with a Balinese tailor using screen printed textiles. Laura put forward a proposal to Enterprise Learning Projects, the not-for-profit initiative she was already involved with. This gave Magpie Goose the startup support it needed to launch as a viable social enterprise. “By August 2016 we’d put a collaboration proposal to four Top End art centres who did screen printing and textile design, and commissioned about 200m of fabric (featuring about eight designs)”, Maggie tell us. While working full time at their day jobs, these two entrepreneurial women were driven to see Magpie Goose succeed. They finalised patterns and styles for their first collection and commissioned around 150 pieces. After holding events for friends and family members, their first run completely sold out. This gave them the confidence they needed to launch Magpie Goose to a wider audience. Their first public collection was successfully crowd-funded using Kickstarter, an online global funding platform for creative projects.
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“After that first ‘test run’ we launched a pre-order campaign on Kickstarter, and raised over $100k in orders over the month. We knew we had a product that had meaning, had a story, and one that Australia was looking for. After the Kickstarter, I quit my job as a lawyer and started working on Magpie Goose full time”, says Maggie. How does this uniquely Australian ethical fashion brand help its partnering communities? Magpie Goose creates new economic opportunities for the artists, whose work you see printed on all past, present and future collections. The brand connects Indigenous Australia to everyday fashion buyers. Designs are created by Aboriginal artists living across Northern Australia. Artists learn about creating and licensing new designs, and are paid licensing fees per metre of fabric printed featuring their design. The Magpie Goose business model provides a unique opportunity for all those involved in the fashion brand. The work of Aboriginal artists can be celebrated and admired in an accessible way, and this fashion enterprise also creates economic empowerment and independence for the artists hired for their artistic story-telling abilities. Maggie tells us: “We create opportunities for income generation through buying fabric, licensing designs from artists, engaging models and showcasing the talent of remote communities. Magpie Goose is a platform that partner organisations (art centres, women’s centres etc) can utilise to launch off, and work to channel ongoing opportunities towards those we collaborate with”.
Maggie and Laura have connected with cultural centres in the Northern Territory, much like the Bábbarra Women’s Centre, which is governed by women, for women and led by the strong voices of the Bábbarra Women’s Board. The core of the work at the Bábbarra Women’s Centre is to enable women to gain economic independence. It is not easy for those living in remote communities to generate a sustainable income. Magpie Goose works to bridge this gap. The brand presents an opportunity for people to share their stories through a collection and leverage the exposure they get from Magpie Goose to generate further opportunities. This in turn not only provides a purpose and connection, but importantly, an income for their extended families. A celebration of Top End designs is showcased in all Magpie Goose collections. Magpie Goose fashion collections depict the symbolic stories of Indigenous Australian culture, seasons, landscapes, celebrations, creatures and history. Take the Bulgan Warra (Sacred Lake) print, for example. Designed by Madge Bowen, whose parents were both from the Stolen Generation. Madge’s design depicts her mother’s country of Bulgan Warra. Bulgan Warra stretches from south of Cook Town (Gundarr) up to Leggets Creek (a branch of the Endeavour River). In Madge’s own words: “This is the place of my ancestors. My mother and her brothers were taken from this country as part of the Stolen Generation – the white police came in and took them – the boys to Cape Bedford, my mum to Yarrabah. My mother’s brother who is also from this country tells me a lot of dreaming stories about this place”.
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Models Aretha, Delankah Ross, Jahvarne Pearson, Chuva May, Presiah Ross-Hart, Alice Wallker, Lykaia Bowen-Ludwick, Debra Ludwick, Summah-Roxe Ludwick & Anna Ludwick
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Her print features a big mountain with a lake, which she explains is the northern boundary of Bulgan Warra. This area is filled with wildlife – kangaroos, echidnas, goannas. “In the lake there’s long neck turtles, and lily pads growing. In the trees there’s lots of different kinds of birds. This tree – the curtain fig tree – has become famous now! Every time I’m asked to draw something, I have to draw this tree, this scene.” “When I’m doing this design, I’ve got this feeling about it that’s hard to explain, like it’s something sacred. It’s hard to put into words”, Madge says. Madge Bowen’s design is just one of many rich stories seen on the textiles of Magpie Goose’s fashion collections.
A recent win for Laura’s and Maggie’s fashion label saw Magpie Goose partnering with the Hope Vale Arts and Cultural Centre in Far North Queensland. The concept took more than a couple of years to piece together. “We brought the collection designed by artists in Hopevale back to the community to launch it there. It was December so we dodged floods and cyclones to get up there, but it was such a fabulous feeling to see the artists and the models get recognition at the community fashion parade. We also engaged about 12 young people to do all the modelling for our website/look book, and captured videos of the artists sharing the stories of their designs – it was a great week!” Maggie tells us.
Magpie Goose collections are produced in limited runs, so they often sell out. When asked which design has been their best seller, Maggie says that people find their favourites within each collection; the echidna print from Wadeye and the fresh water prawn print from Gunbalanya were definite crowd favourites in the first range.
“It is not easy for those living in remote communities to generate a sustainable income. Magpie Goose works to bridge this gap.”
But of course, no startup is completely void of obstacles. Laura and Maggie’s social enterprise is certainly no exception. Maggie admits the biggest challenge they now face is to grow Magpie Goose as a sustainable business. “We’ve had a few challenges along the way, which have been good for us as they’ve forced us to look at what works, and make changes. Probably our biggest challenge now is making sure we grow a sustainable business, so that we can continue to make an impact and create opportunities for the future. We need to attract the right people with expertise in fashion retail to help guide our decision making, as we certainly don’t have all the answers to all the questions we’re facing”, she tells us.
What can we expect from Magpie Goose in the future? News has it that this innovative social enterprise will soon soar into new collaborations, this time flying into remote communities in Western Australia. Celebrate one of Australia’s newest ethical fashion labels featuring the very best in Top End textiles by supporting Magpie Goose.
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Interactive Experiential Installations Britta Sorensen
Words by Britta Sorensen Photography Pierre Requillart, Gitte Eyres & Olivier Marill
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It is a huge undertaking to put on an exhibition, especially when one opens one’s own studio and the entering of this normally private sphere forms part of the artistic experience. To allow others into your personal space is a truly intimate and humbling act of creative generosity. We caught up with a special kind of artist who, through her work, inspires others to embark on their own creative journey in a safe, nurturing environment.
“Really, I want to change the world with art, of course!”
Britta Sorensen invites us into her sanctum. I like to work with ‘the deep stuff’ and to coax viewers into experiences that provoke feelings that then may cause thoughts – which ideally change perspectives and open people up to the possibility of change. Really, I want to change the world with art, of course! But I don’t like to shock, hit or lecture; I aim to reach and tickle the inner child in crusty, conforming, stretched and stressed adults and to give them permission to explore a wondrous, almost forgotten, world. Opening my studio, my art and myself makes me feel exposed, vulnerable, exhilarated, scared, humble, hopeful, joyous, seen, used, useful, connected, alive. What really fascinated me about the interactive installation Touched was what happens to the viewer when she views art and artist – and what happens to the artist when her art and her person are being viewed. I can’t help thinking about what the artist’s role is in a society that can digitally create and 3D-print just about any product it desires. I feel that we live in a world of too much ‘stuff’ and not enough meaning or depth. As an artist I have long stopped producing decorative products and have shifted my focus to exploring processes instead. Hands and what we do with them are so important to our wellbeing. ― art ―
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Touched is an interactive, experiential installation, an attempt to make the inter-affect between viewer, artwork and artist visible and visceral. What effect does art have on a viewer? How does that viewing in turn affect the artist? And how then does this inform the creative process? For the 16 days of Margaret River Region Open Studios I worked, lived and slept in this installation, slowly weaving it closed whilst inviting visitors into the silent room to view, feel and join in the weaving.
I feel being and weaving together can be more honest and open than words – some people gave me spontaneous hugs before they left the room. I was so surprised by how moved many people felt by the experience and how difficult others found it. Quite a few didn’t even make it into the studio room, because they were asked to remove their shoes – it taught me a lot about people’s comfort zones and risk adversity – fears, really. The ‘crazy’ weaving technique I used in this installation is deliberate: anybody at any age or ability can contribute; for me it symbolises connection, the organically growing mesh of community forming one complex and beautiful story. The message really is that we all touch and are being touched, that we cannot help being intermeshed with each other and all our doings. Nobody is singular only, no matter how strongly we might feel it at times.
An estimated 800 people participated. The installation and performance were an offering to make visceral and visible a process of connecting. Slowly weaving a skin/shelter I directly translated my feelings, moods and impressions into colours, textures and materials. The skin/ shelter became the told story of my emotional journey and also that of the viewers, who were invited to explore and to contribute to the weaving thus leaving an effect on the artwork, a trace of their story. In return I tried to ‘hear’, respect and respond to this. It was also a powerful exploration of nonverbal communication. I was astounded at how much we communicate even when we are silent: the energy and emotion of a person entering the room expresses itself in body language, eye contact, movement and response. The weaving is like a conversation, a statement or offering followed by another’s. All this nonverbal stuff, of course, happens as well when we are chatting – it’s just that we don’t notice because we talk over the top of it. The bravest visitors crawled into the shelter and lay down on my sheep skin bed to be rewarded with the light falling through the woven skin, creating an effect like stained glass windows in a church – many made a little gasp or sound of delight when that happened – it always made me smile.
“I aim to reach and tickle the inner child in crusty, conforming, stretched and stressed adults…” I choose to work with used and discarded materials only. This is as much an environmental anticonsumption statement as an attempt to capture previous ownership and usage thus adding deeper layers of meaning and story to the process. We do not know who grew the fibre, designed and made these garments, fabrics and threads, nor do we know who bought, wore, washed, knitted and finally donated them to the charity that I source them from. Our hands transform into temporary artwork a minuscule portion of the unthinkable amount of clothing destined for landfill – for me, it is like halting an absurd journey of waste, paying a little respect, allowing an encore.
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Cartoni Containers Contained Encaustic painting by Michelangelo Russo
Words by Hugo Race and Gerrard Elson Curator and Photography Salon Hang Stylist Cath Prechelt
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Cardboard is a familiar, everyday material, ubiquitous in industrial and commercial processes. But when artist Michelangelo Russo recycles it as a ‘prima materia’ in his new series entitled Cartoni (Italian for cardboard), the humble nature of cardboard assumes an almost mythic aura. The repurposing of the cardboards leads to a reconceptualised ‘box been boxed’ – the container contained.
These ‘passports’ were intended to grant the deceased safe passage to the kingdom of the afterlife. Even when viewing them in reproductions we can appreciate how beeswax is ingeniously used to endow a painting’s subject with a little of the luminous translucence of human skin. The paintings suggest an early link in the evolutionary chain of wax-based human representation, a tradition that encompasses medieval funerary effigies, right through to waxworks museums like Madame Tussauds and up to the sophisticated medical prostheses that we have today.
Russo’s work has frequently dwelt upon the faultline between structure and formlessness, dense abstraction and the void, action and emptiness, microscopic and macroscopic perspectives. In Cartoni, the cardboard’s formal minimalism of parallel lines and modern geometries is challenged by an encaustic process utilising beeswax, damar crystals and dry pigments.
Russo’s intent obviously differs greatly from that of the ancient painters’, and the encaustic wax achieves different effects in his work. In some instances, it lends the surface of a work a lambent, almost lunar quality. In others – as is often the case with the new works in Cartoni – it suggests the excretions of the natural world: tree sap, the calcified limestone drippings of caves, and of course, beeswax.
Russo grew up in Campobasso, in Southern Italy, located roughly 150 kilometres north-east of Naples. He has been painting for most of his life. By age 10, he had his own easel and oils and was painting regularly at home. “But my mama, being Italian, was very focused on having a clean house”, he says. “She didn’t like the smell, or the mess I was making. But she had a painter friend from whom she used to buy paintings, and she asked him if I could work with him.” So, by around the age of 11 years, Russo was working in the atelier of his mother’s friend. The older painter found he so enjoyed Russo’s company that he decided to open his studio to other children, and by the time Russo was 14, the painter upgraded to a larger studio and now welcomed up to 15 young artists to share the space.
To create the new works, Russo has used all organic, sustainable materials. “This is important to me at this moment in history”, he explains. “It is also intriguing to use something natural to produce something that is still visually valid.”
Russo’s search over the next few years led him to encaustic painting, which mixes heated beeswax and dammar crystals with pigment. The technique was used in Roman-occupied Egypt in the late 1st century BC by the Greek painters of the Fayum mummy portraits. The Fayum portraits are death masks painted on small wood panels that were affixed to upper-class mummies.
The works in Cartoni are made using wood and salvaged cardboard. Russo does not plan a piece before beginning work. After deciding on a piece’s size – “The most difficult step!” – Russo constructs a wood panel and frame. Rather than adornment, the frame provides essential structural support: it contains the cardboard.
“I can’t think of anything perfect in nature. These pieces reflect that.”
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Once this is done, the remainder of a piece happens ‘almost automatically’, until the entire panel is filled, after which the encaustic paint is applied – it can take some time for a work to ‘tell’ Russo what colour it wants to be – Russo’s brushstrokes are blowtorched away. The works in Cartoni are the patient result of a years’ long process of refinement. In 2003, Michelangelo made a series called Wax. “I had this vision of badly stitching together pieces of raw material, mainly canvas coffee bean bags. I wanted to paint them in a monochromatic way, but no techniques I knew were responding well to the materials”, he says. “My first experiments were a big failure”, he explains. Undeterred, he kept at it, and the works in Wax were ultimately successful enough to lead Russo to retire his oils and acrylics in favour of dedicating himself to the encaustic technique. He now offers encaustics classes from his studio: an invitingly open street-level space filled with records and books that fills with natural light on clear days.
In Cartoni, Russo’s highly intuitive approach to his art has led to a body of work that encourages the viewer to momentarily step outside the visual cacophony of the smartphone world to privately encounter themselves. These are works that do not ask you to agree with anything. Rather, as Mark Rothko said, they are paintings that “live by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eye of the sensitive observer”. They provide a visually provocative focus in a sparsely decorated space, and offer an oasis of serenity in busier spheres. “That’s because there’s no perfection in them”, Russo says. “Imperfection is stimulating and interesting. I can’t think of anything perfect in nature. These pieces reflect that.” CARTONI: containers contained 13 to 24 August fortyfivedownstairs 45 Flinders Lane Melbourne VIC 3000
“I let the accident I had in the studio suggest shapes”, he says, adding, “I feel I’m not the author of the piece, I’m just the middleman, facilitating the process”. He elaborates: “I try to let the materials I’m using speak for themselves. I always take great pleasure in revealing the beauty of something we use every day, something we don’t stop and look at”. ― art ―
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“Striking gold for Pamela is finding a stack of Staffordshire saucers with their ornate flowers and gold rims…”
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You Only Live Once Pamela Irving
Words by Jo Canham & Pamela Irving Photography Supplied
Pamela Irving’s art encompasses assemblage, mosaics, painting, ceramics and sculpture. Her art school background is in sculpture and ceramics, with an emphasis on large-scale vessels and figurative forms. By the time Pamela was in her 20s, she had already started to gather awards and her works were finding homes in public collections. Motherhood dramatically changed her practice, as first one child and then another disrupted her routine and pushed changes on her working techniques. Clay would dry out, and the pieces wouldn’t come together. This changed Pamela’s artistic direction. She instead started to fossick in op shops and bazaars while she was out walking with the pram. Her pram began to fill not just with babies, but also found objects, and these pieces she began to join together in the small snatches of time available to a mother of young children. She began creating new objects out of old discards. In 2004, a pivotal point in Pamela’s career came about with the conference held by the Association of Contemporary Mosaic Congress in Melbourne. Attending this event, Pamela found her tribe and realised she was, in fact, a mosaicist. With some of the finest mosaic artists from around the world, it became abundantly clear that mosaics were not just “boring trivets and tabletops” but that they can contribute to architecture, to landscape and sculpture, and that, in fact, there are no limits. Four years later, Pamela attended the same conference, this time in Gaziantep, Turkey, to present her own paper titled The Romans Never Conquered Australia, on the advantages and disadvantages of being an Antipodean mosaicist. This talk led to a commission in Russia, at the State Architectural Museum in Moscow, and then further exhibitions in Japan, France, USA, Latvia and Italy. Pamela has had further commissions in Shanghai and Kuala Lumpur, and returned to Turkey as a guest of the Turkish government to give a talk on contemporary mosaics. She also regularly teaches and exhibits in Chicago, with the pre-eminent Chicago Mosaic School. This year, in October, Pamela returns to Chicago for a collaborative exhibition with the director of the school, Karen Ami, titled Savage Liaisons – an exhibition of drawings and mosaic masks using primitive art as inspiration. ― art ―
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Pamela credits her success not just to her children, but also to the use of storytelling that accompanies her choice of materials. Trencadis is a technique where broken ceramics or other irregular pieces of glass or marble are used to cover a structure. Using this technique, Pamela breaks down found objects – largely crockery, porcelain objects, doll parts, bottle tops – and upcycles them. Visiting her in her Bentleigh studio, you will find large tubs of her ‘stuff’ under the work bench. To be invited out the back is to witness a veritable hoarder’s den. Memoryware is another term that Pamela uses for some of her work, and this harks back to memory jugs of 19th century North America. A deceased person’s effects were embedded into a clay layer around a vessel in order to preserve memories of the individual, often made by people who couldn’t afford a tombstone. Pamela talks about a Hannukah candelabra she made for a Jewish woman whose parents had survived wartorn Europe. The candelabra was assembled out of the broken shards of treasured urns that had also survived the journey to a new country. In the recreation, Pamela used not only the urn fragments, but also other precious objects from the woman’s parents including jewellery. In working with these often old and worn materials, Pamela finds herself thinking about their past lives – who ate from that plate, what conversations has this cup heard, and what stories they might be able to tell. She enjoys giving them new life and new meaning.
While it might on the surface appear that Pamela’s foraging days are over, it seems that once a forager always a forager! For a bower bird like Pamela, you can never have enough. Fortunately, her studio is large enough to store her treasures and besides, she adds, it’s not contributing to landfill if it’s out the back! She’s astonished at what she finds and wonders at the stuff that is thrown out, and also feels some sympathy for mosaicists of the future, who will only have our modern dull china to use – largely white, heavy and the same. Striking gold for Pamela is finding a stack of Staffordshire saucers with their ornate flowers and gold rims…and the special sound they make when they bump against each other. These days you can find many of Pamela’s works around Melbourne – perhaps most notably the Dreaming With Open Eyes installation at Luna Park, which took her four years to complete. Luna Park was built on an old tip site, and at the time of the scenic railway restoration a lot of old china was discovered and kept for Pamela – these pieces were incorporated back into the “large, giggly” heads. Another mural – hundreds of heads made by hundreds of people – won Pamela a Keep Australia Beautiful Award for community engagement and use of recycling – you can find this at the Patterson Station underpass. For each of these massive projects, Pamela’s materials were recycled china, discarded floor tiles and other found objects.
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“Her pram began to fill not just with babies, but also found objects…”
Pamela recently held an exhibition for the Port Fairy Folk Festival at our own Blarney Books & Art in Port Fairy, titled YOLO Man Waltzes Matilda. This body of work is currently on display at Pamela’s studio in Bentleigh. Pamela’s husband, Benjamin Lindner, has recently written and released the book Waltzing Matilda: Australia’s Accidental Anthem, with his research taking over five years. During this time, Pamela found she was driven to explore this facet of Australian history through her own work, and she wanted to use her character YOLO man (You Only Live Once) to tell the story. Pamela and Benjamin took a trip to Winton, Queensland, the birthplace of Waltzing Matilda, and determined the location of Dagworth Station. Whilst at the site of the station, they were able to find and collect small shards of crockery, glass bottle stoppers, a billy lid, a piece of a broken shear, old tins and more. These pieces were incorporated into this series of YOLO man mosaics. Pamela deliberately left the china pieces dirty, perhaps saving their DNA from which one day we might discover whether Banjo Paterson, Christina MacPherson or Sarah Riley actually ate from that particular piece of china! When I asked Pamela what her dream installation would be, she responded that she would love to create a giant playground for both adults and children – something truly interactive and on a grand scale that would bring joy to people, and something that could be created out of our discards. Rethink, reuse, reduce, recycle, rejoice! ― art ―
Metal Movement
Words by Georgie Seccull Photography Andrew J Bourke
Georgie Seccull is a self-taught artist based in Melbourne whose sculptures explore nature with a uniqueness and fluidity that is as beautiful as it is mesmerising. Using a variety of media, from new and recycled metal and paper to bones and feathers, each new piece continues to stun the art world.
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We were lucky enough to catch up with Georgie to ask her about her work. How did you begin your creative journey into design and sculpture?
One example was when I made Mechanical Interference for Penthouse Mouse. I went to a metal scrap yard and spent days in the bins, collecting all kinds of amazing machinery parts. The piece I wanted to make was going to be big – about 3m tall – so I had to make it lying on the floor as the roof in my shed wasn’t high enough to enable me to stand it up in there. After days nailing all the bits together onto a wooden backboard I was excited to lift it up to see what it looked like. However, I couldn’t lift it for the life of me. In the end it took me and four men to lift and instal the piece. We estimated that it weighed about 300kg. After that project I realised that if I wanted to keep making larger pieces I would need to use a lighter material, so I moved onto paper for a while.
When I moved into my first apartment I didn’t have any money for furniture so I began collecting hard rubbish from the side of the road – mostly old cupboards, doors, gates – anything I could deconstruct and use to make my own furniture. My roomate at the time would probably interject here and say that “furniture” would be a very generous term for my creations; it was more like a table on top of a door, on top of a shonky cabinet that I nailed together and proudly declared was now a kitchen bar table.
How long does it take you to create one of your sculptures?
At the time I was working as a copywriter in an advertising agency. I remember trying to come up with reasons why people needed the latest product I was selling and thinking, “Wow! This is why so much stuff ends up in hard rubbish! People are constantly being told they need new things”. This was a turning point. I realised that I was contributing to all this unnecessary landfill and decided that this wasn’t the path for me, and I resigned. I decided I was going to use my hands to make things that added beauty to the world.
What is your creative process? Do you do sketches beforehand, or do you create on the spot?
This varies depending on the size of the piece and the materials I’m using, as well as if the piece is going to be temporary or permanent. Salvaged materials can take a couple of weeks to source, but usually it will be somewhere between two and six weeks.
My mum’s friend owned a bookstore so I asked if I could make an art installation for her window that would promote her new range of gardening books. My concept was to have vines appear as if they were growing out of the pages, bringing to life the idea that one’s imagination grows through what one reads. I continued this way for about a year, creating pieces for small events and spaces, always finding new materials to play with and learning many lessons along the way, most of them being what not to do next time.
The process usually begins with an expression or movement I have in my head. I’ll draw up a little sketch and then find references that allow me to understand how that movement would work – for example if it’s an animal I’m making I’ll look at how its muscular structure moves and I’ll try to work out how it would move to get into the position I have in my mind. Then I begin to create the internal frame. This is the most important part – it dictates the movement and flow of the overall piece. Once that is done the process becomes very organic; I pick up pieces one at a time and let each one join with the others to dictate the outcome.
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Which work are you most proud of?
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I think in terms of how much fun I had making a piece, Another Earth, which was created for Gasworks’ ‘From Nature’ living art exhibition, would have to be up there. It was the first time I had the opportunity to create a piece for an exhibition, one entirely made out of natural objects. I loved the brief: ‘What would nature look like if it could transform and evolve itself into selfexpression’. I had so much fun collecting all the little gumnuts and leaves and finding new ways to use materials that I’d never thought of before. What materials do you prefer to use? It’s always changing, which is probably what I love most about working with so many different materials. I love metal because it’s permanent and can hold delicate shapes and curves beautifully. But it’s tough to work with and quite labour intensive so when I get to switch to a project using paper I love the simplicity, ease and lightness of it. I love the stories and history that salvaged materials hold within them. How have your travels influenced your art? Road trips around Australia have been some of the most inspiring and influential times of my life. The rawness of the Australian outback and the incredible feeling you get when you’re out there are incomparable. So many of the bones and feathers and crystals and wood I have collected on these journeys have ended up in my sculptures. It’s allowed me to create pieces that are very personal to me, as there are memories attached to them. How have you incorporated recycled materials into your art? Most of the sculptures I make out of wood are made from old doors or cabinets or scrap pieces I’ve salvaged from the side of the road. I’ve used umbrella spokes and the blades of chainsaws in flowers, the metal rails of filing cabinet folders for insect legs, tea spoons for the eyes of bees, dish racks for spider legs and animal bones for insect exoskeletons. ― art ―
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Why is it important to you to use recycled materials and elements of nature in your work?
Which one of your works have you shed the most blood, sweat and tears over?
Taking something that would otherwise go to landfill and transforming it into something useful or creating something beautiful out of it is always rewarding, both for yourself and for our world.
I’ve definitely shed a lot of blood over many of the pieces I’ve made – it comes with the territory of working with your hands – but I think the one that stands out the most is Through the Dark, a 4m tall plywood owl sculpture for last year’s ‘From Nature’ exhibition at Gasworks Arts Park. Being an organic sculpture exhibition I began the internal frame quite organically – creating it without any real thought to scale other than that I wanted it to be big. By the time I had got to the wings it was nearly touching the roof of our warehouse. I became totally overwhelmed – how the hell was I going to even move this, let alone get it out the door and to the exhibition? I toyed over and over again with the idea of scrapping it all and starting again, but given the time restraints I knew this wasn’t possible. I just had to keep going. This meant breaking it down into four individual sections that I could bolt together. I had to go back over the entire frame and reinforce everything so that it would be strong enough to stand up to the wind and weather conditions in the park it was going to be installed in. But it all worked out in the end and it was a beautiful piece that ended up winning the People’s Choice Award.
“I love the stories and history that salvaged materials hold within them.”
Your sculptures have such an effortless flow to their design. How do you achieve this look and manage to make metal and other solid materials look so fluid? I’m always thinking about the expression and the movement of the piece while I’m making it, and how that feels. I want each piece of metal or wood or paper I use to feel as if it’s moving, too. I want each piece of the whole to feel alive.
How would you like you/your art to be remembered? I would like to be remembered for creating art that makes you feel alive. For me, creating art is about slowing down time, capturing moments in nature that transcend our intellect and reach directly to our hearts.
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All that Returns Louiseann King
Words by Susie Elliott & Helen Mathwin Photography Danny Wootton
When Junkies first came across the work of Louiseann King at the Art Gallery of Ballarat it had a profound effect on us; we were completely captivated and intrigued by the potency and immediacy of her work and its evocation of the transience and regeneration inherent in nature. We are indebted to artists and academics Susie Elliott and Helen Mathwin who explore the meanings intrinsic in Louiseann’s powerful oeuvre. 59 >
“My practice constantly returns to…the thrumming energy of the great maternal.”
Bronze has been used throughout the history of art and culture to preserve important moments, artifacts and great heroes. As a medium it changed the world around 7000 years ago with its strength and durability. Artist, curator and academic Louiseann King is uncommonly skilled at using bronze, though what she preserves is something greater: nature; the landscape that came before us; and the fragility of all aspects of life, ourselves included. Louiseann’s recent exhibition solis at the Art Gallery of Ballarat (1 September 2018 – 9 April 2018) was, at heart, an ecological one: scavenged, salvaged, rearranged, and calling on us to notice, to feel, and to be in awe. Her work elegantly and beautifully disrupted the formal spaces of the Ferry and Crouch galleries within the Art Gallery of Ballarat. Working as both curator and artist Louiseann carefully created a specific narrative from the existing collection in which to position her own installations. In the drawing-room atmosphere of the Ferry Gallery with its 19th century paintings of women, children and iconic depictions of the colonisation of the Australian landscape, she created an intimate, otherworldly space. In the centre was a large sculptural installation made up of a petrified copse of turned wooden pedestals, luminous glass vessels, a reflection pool of shimmering mirrors, and floating pressed wattle. Bronze casts of discarded post-Federation filet crochet doilies depicting the newly celebrated fauna of Australia were archived in glass cloches and found glass vessels sourced from refuse, to house her wild, discarded, delicate things. Laboriously rendered in bronze, native Australian birds, gathered from the landscape in which they once lived, are transmogrified into the immortal and introduced into the rarefied space of the gallery. ― cover ―
“Our society isn’t taught to understand and/or value the particular power and meaning in women’s work.” Gender politics are an important seam running through much of Louiseann’s work. In solis, she has turned traditional values on their head, incorporating femininity and motherhood into the environment which has been overlooked by the orthodox Western gaze. She re-inserted domestic Australiana in the Ferry installation with the inclusion of doilies. Among the flora and fauna, these seemingly incidental objects also gain immense, otherwise disregarded, power and are able to convey their own story – the hopes and worries of women – in a rebellious tribute to female lives of the past. The work transfers cultural value to these domestic handicrafts and natural phenomena, bringing to light and simultaneously questioning the sacrifice of nature for the benefit of culture.
While the Ferry Gallery was an intimate affair, the Crouch Gallery took on the grandeur of the Australian landscape, housing a spectacular arrangement of some of Australia’s finest landscape paintings, curated to map the progression of time from dusk till dawn with a single horizon line. At the centre of the Crouch Gallery, in which a triumphant masculine energy asserts itself over the Australian environment, Louiseann placed a large, seemingly empty, vitrine. While power has traditionally lain with those who speak, the vitrine evoked a different power, found in absence and space. From this emptiness, here existing both within the grand narrative of high art and outside of it, an uncanny soundscape emerged – a collaboration with eminent sound artist Philip Samartzis. Bird song, frogs and chirruping insects brought the outside world in. Instead of housing and protecting ostensibly precious objects, here the vitrine was both a void and a lens, disrupting and reconstituting the power of the paintings around it and ultimately housing that which is most precious – the fleeting, vulnerable and ever-changing landscape. Louiseann’s work history is as impressive as it is has been focused. She has lectured in visual art at Monash, Melbourne and RMIT universities. She has also pursued overseas residencies, in India, Mexico and Paris. She was curator and coodinator of RMIT’s School of Art Galleries for several years, and the recipient of many awards and prizes. Her PhD research explored the functionality of objects, ritualistic and ephemeral; the latter she describes as an overarching theme in her practice, particularly as discarded objects.
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“I am interested in how something can be meaningful and then lose its meaning; in the way we can view things differently and through different lenses. I think that, for me, this comes from my first artistic love, photography, which ultimately taught me how to see. Photography is about the moment, about time and the way things are framed. I am also interested in the hierarchy of materials and making practices. In our culture there is a very clear understanding of that which is powerful and meaningful in the realm of men, but women’s vernacular making practices are not overtly powerful and our society isn’t taught to understand and/or value the particular power and meaning in women’s work.” Louiseann’s family home and studio in Eganstown outside Daylesford, Victoria, is located on 20 acres of fertile bushland on the fringes of the Hepburn Regional Park. It is an environment that is very important to her personally and to her practice. After the slowing down necessitated by motherhood, she says: “My children taught me about this landscape – they showed it to me. They made me slow down and actually see it, feel the awe and experience the wonder.” Her studio is a double-storey structure renovated to allow plenty of light, and frames her workspace amongst the bush. This is country that has a long, important and complex history of which Louiseann is conscious and deeply respectful. The deceased birds used for some of the bronze casts are ‘borrowed’ from the bushland and returned to the earth once her moulds have been made. “My children taught me that nature is in a constant state of birthing and death, everything is in a cycle, all things are fleeting and ephemeral. And it is in this fleeting moment that beauty resides.”
This notion of powerful absence is important to Louiseann, who casts her bronze objects using lost wax casting – cire perdue. Through this process an original object must be lost, sacrificed, for the creation of another object. This technique is descriptive of her larger ideas; of the generative void, like the vitrine in solis, and also the womb, and of the loss that is part of creation. And while her practice has long been grounded in the material – from her early textile work to her ongoing use of natural elements like timber, bronze and glass – these are also all biodegradable, signalling even the work’s eventual return to dust. Despite being stilled in bronzed simulacra, nature in solis is both triumphant and fleeting. The title of the exhibition draws its name from the sun, which reveals something fundamental at its core. While there is great flux in both dominant and discarded things, there is also a sense of constant energy, as dictated in physics and its first law of thermodynamics. Louiseann engages with this and puts her own spin on it. That energy can be transformed from one configuration into something different but can neither be created nor destroyed is at the core of all of Louiseann’s art making. “My practice constantly returns to this idea; this transferring of energy from one form to another, and the thrumming energy of the great maternal.”
Page 60 – arbor temporis momentum – flore 2017; fire-scorched colonial table, pressed acacia, glass, mirrors, bronze, vintage milk-glass jars; Collection of the artist. Page 62 – solis 2019; bronze, 19th century turned wood pedestals, vintage botanical, scientific and domestic glassware, acacia, glass, mirrors, wood; Private Collection. Page 64 – solis 2018; bronze, 19th Century glass vitrine, soundscape - in collaboration with Philip Samartzis; Crouch Gallery – The Art Gallery of Ballarat; Collection of the artist.
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Flamboyant Upholstery Liz Gannon
Words & Photography by Jo Canham
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Liz Gannon started her creative career in signwriting in the 90s, using old-school methods until the process finally became digitised. Signwriting gave Liz skills that would translate into many areas of her life – not only art skills, but also construction and design. She enjoyed the work, as every day was different with jobs ranging from industrial signage to boutique shopfronts. In 2008, Liz moved back to her home turf, in southwest Victoria’s Warrnambool, to take on a variety of increasingly creative part-time jobs as she started a family. A transformative project for Liz’s career was the restoration work in 2014 of a public whale mural in Warrnambool, originally painted by the late Australian wildlife painter, Robert Ulmann.
Liz loves the challenge of creating something truly unique with her reupholstery, using found things like tea towels and men’s ties, old fabrics and offcuts, clasps and interesting trinkets. Picture an Alice in Wonderland chair with colourful vintage men’s ties, tiny stopwatches made from clay, vibrant textile mushrooms, and a seat that looks like it could be the rabbit hole that led to Alice’s adventures; or a tall wingback chair with a flamingo theme, covered in bright pink faux fur; an antique nursing chair reupholstered in a deep turquoise material, with a night scene from Peter Pan; a teeny tiny Willy Wonka chair, the perfect size for a four-year-old; or a bucket chair on the theme of Wind in the Willows, with the characters rowing across the back rest.
These days, she divides her time between working for Lana’s Garden, a local rhubarb condiments business that has grown steadily over the years to supply outlets across the state; serving as one of the six members who make up Port Fairy’s long-running Whalebone Gallery; and working in her studio at the site of the old Fletcher Jones factory where she engages in portraiture, landscape works, illustration and upholstery. Being a member of Whalebone Gallery for nearly three years, Liz finds that the pressure to keep producing new work for the retail space is demanding but is also good for her – sometimes artists work better with a deadline.
“...one chair can take up to two months to complete...”
Even with Liz’s broad range of creative skills, it is the madly unique chairs for which Liz is now best known. She is the chair lady of the south west! What started out as an attempt (with no previous upholstery experience) to restore her grandmother’s Jason recliner by reupholstering it with a collection of vintage linen tea towels has now turned into a thriving business of unusually creative and colourful reupholstery. She doesn’t just reupholster – that would be too dull for Liz – she injects every new project with so much colour, fun and energy that you can’t help but smile when you see these chairs in person! Nothing is too over the top, and many of her chairs have a literary theme, because really, where better to read a book?
Liz prefers to find her own chairs, although many chairs make their way to her from people who don’t know what to do with their old furniture, knowing that it is too good to cast away. She has restored antique telephone tables, nursing chairs, and even a full-sized chaise lounge. Her favourite chairs are wingbacks for their flamboyant potential. Broken chairs don’t scare her either, as she’s even built legs and arms for chairs, and can fashion a good set of wings for an otherwise ordinary chair. She sometimes creates new chairs out of other chairs, and then gives them the magic treatment. If the material on the chair is good enough to be reused, she will employ that as well.
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Liz has no shortage of ideas, or furniture, and she tells me that she has a replica French Louis XV carved couch in her shed, just waiting for the right royal treatment. And as she is currently learning both the piano and cello, musical ideas keep jostling for attention – she has an idea to turn a piano into a seat one day, and who knows where and how a cello will appear in future projects!
“It is the madly unique chairs for which Liz is now best known.” Liz loves nothing better than a rummage through fabric sales and has a keen eye for unusual materials. It’s not fast work – one chair can take up to two months to complete – and the hard work of stripping back chairs and removing the staples and tacks causes the odd sore shoulder and calloused hand, but she believes it’s all worthwhile – the pleasure she gets from the joy her chairs give others is why she continues with these projects.
Many of these chairs have been exhibited at Blarney Books & Art in Port Fairy before they are sold, and many of them sell before they even reach a shop floor. They are never available for long – so if you ever see one and you love it, you’ll probably want to contact her as quickly as you can. Liz will take on commissions if it’s the right time for her, but mostly she is much happier creating the chair of her imagination rather than working to someone else’s specifications. You can find her website (and an amazing gallery of all the chairs she’s ever made) at gannoncreative.net and she’s active on Instagram and Facebook as well. We are always extremely excited when we hear a new chair is about to be completed, because you can never predict just how over the top it will be!
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A Sustainable Life: Our Home
Words by Michelle Stephenson Photography Rowena Naylor Photography
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Junkies loves to feature beautiful homes that reflect our ethos and showcase functionality alongside sustainable features. But what does this really mean? How does one go about designing and building a house that combines both comfort and all the features required to live sustainably? We decided to call upon an agency that specialises in just that. We asked Michelle Stephenson from BE Designs about her own home and the sustainable processes that informed its design. A significant project we completed recently was the build of our new home. Our goal for this project was to create an energyefficient, low-impact and future-proofed home that would cater for our changing needs and be adaptive to continuing climate change.
“Minimising waste to landfill was our goal.”
It was a fantastic learning experience as it developed my understanding more deeply about how we can leverage the natural environment through orientation, airflow, use of plants and choice of materials to create a wonderful living space. All of these elements are critical to our survival, yet it seems we have lost touch with them. Another important part of the process was not just being focused on the outcome but managing the waste produced during the construction process. Minimising waste to landfill was our goal. This was well supported by our local shire’s transfer station as it has introduced a wide range of recycling streams, ensuring most of our waste was diverted from landfill. Recycling is still not the answer and we need to minimise this also, but we found that through good planning we could reduce what went to the transfer station. Our new home is set on 1.3 acres in central Victoria and has a large, deep dam. We wanted to create a productive haven for ourselves, our extended family and friends, and the local flora and fauna, with the long-term aim of being a self-sustaining ecosystem. To achieve this, we focused on three key areas – our guiding principles throughout the project. ― home ―
The fireplace acts as a great thermal mass as it is north-facing (capturing the sun on it in winter). We have a wood-fired masonry heater, so the internal chimney retains heat and then releases this into the room as it cools. The bricks are all seconds.
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Energy efficiency The design from the start was driven by the need to produce a home that would manage energy efficiently. To achieve this we incorporated the following elements:
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orientation – it was essential to capture the north-facing sun in winter through double-glazed windows to provide passive solar heating (free heating); heat bank wall – in the main living area we built a large brick fireplace that absorbs heat from the north winter sun; in the evening the heat is slowly released from the bricks helping to warm the room; thermal mass – floors on the north-facing side of the building are concrete, again to harness winter sun and perform the same task as the brick fire place; green roof – on the roof of the main living area, a green roof will be planted to create further insulation (25% of heat lost is through the ceiling), to filter rainwater that’s harvested in a water tank, and to support biodiversity; insulation everywhere – under floor, in the walls and the ceiling; cross & stack ventilation – optimum window placement and fans to harness and create air flow; no fossil fuel usage – we do not use gas at all; instead we have a 5kW solar system and run everything off electricity using energy-efficient appliances; heating – we rely on passive solar heating, maintained with insulation and double-glazed windows plus wood heating.
The external shots of the house, particularly the timber featured ones, highlight the reclaimed blackbutt timbers. ― home ―
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Low impact I spent many sleepless nights on this one and in the end had to give myself license to compromise at times so I could get some rest! This aspect took into consideration:
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choosing building materials with low embodied energy e.g. recycled timbers; using recycled materials where possible such as bricks, bolts and timbers; minimising our footprint on the landscape by limiting excavation, planting lots of trees and aiming to be carbon neutral; managing waste on site through composting, bulk buying, preserving food and maximising food storage by including a walk-in pantry and a cellar; decorating the home using preloved furniture, low VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) paints and the eco-friendliest carpet currently on the market made from recycled plastic and cornstarch.
On the deck, these beautiful big upright posts are recycled jarrah timbers that came from a railway bridge in Fremantle. We made the table from a double glazed door a neighbour was going to throw out (it had a few small chips in the side). We had metal legs made for it. It ended up costing about $150. ― home ―
As we progress with the project, I see where I have not quite got it right. I have to chalk this up to learning and hopefully use this information to share with others choosing to live more sustainably. Some key pitfalls to be aware of are:
“We wanted to create a productive haven for ourselves, our extended family and friends, and the local flora and fauna…”
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Future proofing The design of the home always took a long-term view. When the zombie apocalypse happens, our home will provide shelter, food and water for many! The types of future proofing we included in the design and build include:
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sloping land is beautiful but the cost to build is high – we didn’t factor this in, leading to some compromises on the project that impacted my guiding principles; not seeking more ‘sustainability’ expertise in the beginning thus avoiding the need to go back to the drawing board on design that costs more money; not getting all the key professions into a room together to workshop as a group the outcomes we were after and to deal with likely issues; instead we managed this individually during the process.
All in all, designing and building our home was a fantastic experience. We have such a lovely home that exceeds my expectations every day. I feel very lucky and grateful to be fortunate enough to build a home in our very privileged country.
energy generation – generating energy through the sun and storing it in batteries; water capture – via the dam, water tanks and effective water usage habits; spaces – the design of the home can allow for dual occupancy down the track; food production – even before the build started we planted the orchard and olive grove and we plan to extend the initial vegetable garden we’ve established. We will add fish to the already yabbie-abundant dam. We’ll also incorporate indigenous bush foods to produce edibles on most of the land; electric car – the garage design allows for an electric car to be plugged in and charged free from the sun. ― home ―
Concrete floors feature in all of the north-facing areas of the house. I love cooking and I grow a lot of food. The kitchen has an induction cooktop and electric ovens that all run off a 5kw solar system.
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Green Gnocchi with Cinnamon Myrtle Burnt Butter Sauce Stop drooling.
Recipe by Rebecca Sullivan & Damien Coulthard Photography Luisa Brimble
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 5 minutes Ingredients
Method Place 300g of the warrigal greens in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Leave for one to two minutes until wilted, drain thoroughly, squeeze out excess water and finely chop.
For the gnocchi:
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400g warrigal greens handful of sea parsley, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, crushed 140g ricotta 85g plain flour 2 free-range eggs 100g grated Parmesan cheese salt and pepper, to taste
For the burnt butter sauce:
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100g butter 1 tsp ground cinnamon myrtle, plus extra to sprinkle 1 garlic clove
To garnish:
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1 sprig of sea parsley, leaves picked salt and pepper, to taste
Place the warrigal greens, parsley, garlic, ricotta, flour, eggs and cheese in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Use a fork to stir thoroughly. On a floured surface, roll the dough into finger-sized lengths then cut into 3cm portions. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Boil a large pot of salted water and add the gnocchi; boil until just cooked, a few minutes. Gnocchi will float to the top when cooked. Drain and set aside. To make the burnt butter sauce: in a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter with the cinnamon myrtle, garlic and remaining warrigal greens. Cook for five to six minutes, or until the butter is slightly brown. Toss the gnocchi through the sauce, stir through the sea parsley leaves and season with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with cinnamon myrtle to serve. Serves 2
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Tamarind & Thyme Crème Brûlée Wowzers! Next Level! Epic! Our favourite! Yummo! Our version of rhubarb and custard!
Recipe by Rebecca Sullivan & Damien Coulthard Photography Luisa Brimble
Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes Ingredients
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250g boonjie tamarind, chopped 1 cup caster sugar ¼ cup water ¼ cup orange juice 500ml double cream 1 tsp vanilla essence 6 sprigs of native thyme 6 egg yolks ¼ cup caster sugar, extra for sprinkling 2 sprigs native thyme, for garnish (optional) 79 >
Method Preheat oven to 180°C. Place tamarind, half cup of sugar, the water and orange juice in a small saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 18 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the consistency is thick and jammy. Spoon into the base of four x ¾ cup heat-proof ramekins or dishes. Place cream, vanilla essence and thyme sprigs in a medium saucepan over high heat. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. Remove thyme. Place egg yolks and the remaining sugar together in a bowl and whisk. Pour cream mixture into egg mixture and whisk. Pour back into the saucepan, heat over low heat and cook for four minutes or until thick. Carefully pour into ramekins. Place in a baking dish and pour boiling water into the baking dish to about halfway up the ramekins. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until just set. (The brûlée should have a slight wobble.) Cool at room temperature. Refrigerate for two hours or until cold. Sprinkle with extra sugar and torch the tops with a kitchen blowtorch until golden and caramelised. Serve immediately. Note: If you don’t have a kitchen blowtorch, preheat oven grill to high. Place ramekins under grill for 30 seconds to one minute, or until tops are golden and caramelised. Serves 4 ― food ―
These recipes are from Warndu Mai (Good Food) by Rebecca Sullivan & Damien Coulthard published by Hachette Australia, Hardback RRP $45. Photography by Luisa Brimble. When sourcing ingredients Rebecca and Damien recommend you check out their resources guide (warndu.com/resource), ask your local supermarket to stock them, forage for a little (respectfully) and better yet, grow a little, too. Whether it’s a balcony or a backyard, growing herbs and greens is easier than you think!
Save Food from the Fridge and keep it fresher longer
Words by La Vergne Lehmann Photography Supplied
A few years ago I read about a design studio that focuses on food storage that does not involve refrigeration, a practice that relies on traditional oral knowledge. Jihyun David is a Turin/Amsterdam/Seoul-based design studio established by Jihyun Ryou from Korea and David Artuffo from Italy.
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Like other brassicas, cauliflower is quite cold resistant and is approximately 90% water. Cauliflower stays fresher longer if you keep its stem (or the down part) in water, as we do with flowers. This should not be deep water and the water should only be in contact with the stem, not the leaves or the floret clusters – water will speed up their decay. Jihyun David’s solution is a “marble leafy”, a hexagon-shaped modular marble base that supports leafy vegetables outside the fridge with water, preserving both their nutrients and taste, and enabling us to enjoy their beauty.
Their collaboration started in 2008 when they initiated a project called Save Food From the Fridge. They focused on the preservation of food, combining ethnographic knowledge and objects for the home. The result was a combination of beautiful design and a greater understanding of how fruit and vegetable ripen, mature and ultimately disintegrate. We all appreciate the invention of the refrigerator – that one item in the kitchen that has helped us store a lot of our food more safely and for longer. The refrigerator has been around for almost 100 years and has certainly changed the way we shop, store and make our food.
Another design creation was the “knowledge shelves” – beautifully constructed shelves that ensure fruit and vegetables are appropriately stored, look great and save energy. In this project they considered non-fridge options for several common fruits and vegetables.
“An egg has millions of holes in its shell through which the odours that surround it are absorbed.”
But what if we did not have a fridge? Apart from saving quite a bit on our electricity bills, how would we manage? It turns out that not everything benefits from being stored in the fridge. Jihyun David has come up with some interesting options that challenge our modern perception of food storage. Having a fridge actually increases the amount of food we waste – often because once something is put in there it gets pushed to the back and then forgotten. But these researchers went further; they looked at the physiology of some food items. For example, an egg has millions of holes in its shell through which the odours that surround it are absorbed. This creates a bad taste if it is kept in the fridge with other foods. There are also a number of fruit and vegetables that live in harmony with each other out of the fridge, a fact that was common knowledge before the advent of the refrigerator. One such combination is apples and potatoes. Apples emit a lot of ethylene gas. This has the effect of speeding up the ripening process of fruits and vegetables kept together with apples. When stored with potatoes, apples prevent them from sprouting.
Keeping root vegetables such as carrots in a vertical position allows the organism to save energy and remain fresh for a longer time. This shelf enables them to stand easily, using sand. Sand also helps to maintain the appropriate humidity. While we usually think of zucchini, aubergines and cucumbers as vegetables, biologically, they are actually fruits. The shelf enables them to be stored outside the fridge. To provide some humidity, which aids freshness, a tray of water is added.
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“Apples, when stored with potatoes, prevent them from sprouting.”
Other shelves store apples and potatoes together to prevent sprouting by potatoes and there is also a shelf to store eggs and provide a medium for testing their freshness in water. By using technology such as refrigeration, we have started to lose some of the knowledge around good food storage. This shared knowledge was passed on by previous generations through their intimate understanding of how to keep food and the seasonality of fresh fruit and vegetables. Jihyun David’s work – both in understanding food storage and combining it with good design – has certainly provided some food for thought.
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Suffrage and Stitches Words by Caroline O’Reilly Photography Carolina Angelica & Prato Casanova
A new exhibition is opening at Wellington Museum on Friday 2 August and running through to 31 August 2019. Suffrage in Stitches is a 300-metre-long textile work that has been created during the 125th anniversary year of women’s suffrage by 546 individuals, families and groups from New Zealand and beyond, honouring the ‘ordinary’ woman and men who signed the 1893 Suffrage petition. The project was open to everyone regardless of age or experience. The final makers included a few leading figures from the art/recycling community; however, the majority are ordinary people from diverse cultural/ ethnic backgrounds, including Maori, Pacifika, migrant communities and refugees.
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“Makers have discovered a love of history and a fascination for the past…”
The final work matches the length of the original petition and consists of 546 individually designed fabric panels (the number of pages in the original petition) telling the stories of those who signed the petition, as well as relatives who’ve subsequently influenced the makers. Together the panels include over 27,000 hand-stitched marks, one for each signature on the petition, along with multiple surface decoration techniques and styles. The project was devised by Caroline O’Reilly, the coordinator at Vinnies Re Sew, a sewing space funded by St Vincent de Paul, Wellington, to up-skill marginalised members of the community, using fabrics destined for landfill. The project aimed to give anyone the opportunity to work and hang their art in a gallery space regardless of their education, experience or age. Makers have collaborated in person at Wellington Museum, Vinnies Re Sew studio and virtually via a closed Facebook group over the last nine months. What started as a collective exhibition emerged as a sharing of history, a connection of people and an amazing feeling of togetherness, similar to what the original petition evoked in 1893. Each panel tells a story from the past but also has its own fascinating and often moving story created in the present. Makers have discovered a love of history and a fascination for the past and a renewed appreciation for those who went before us, as well as being introduced to new friends, craft and recycling skills. A wealth of historical material has been unearthed and saved for future generations, and a study/archival resource of national significance has been created to inspire researchers and makers in the future. It is a great celebration of people and shows how one craftbased idea can connect and bring people together from multiple backgrounds, communities and generations. ― craft ―
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“Hope” is the thing with feathers – That perches in the soul – And sings the tune without the words – And never stops – at all – And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard – And sore must be the storm – That could abash the little Bird That kept so many warm – I’ve heard it in the chillest land – And on the strangest Sea – Yet – never – in Extremity, It asked a crumb – of me.
Emily Dickinson
How to be a Part-time Eco Warrior without breaking out into a sweat… Words by Hey Hoe Let’s Grow Photography Supplied
Frankly, it can be overwhelming being an eco-crusader all the time. Planet Ark recently revealed in a study that nearly 50% of Australians find recycling confusing. The amount of advice of the ‘Do This/Don’t Do That’ variety is also overwhelming. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there! Earthlings are custodians of the planet, and we all have our part to play. Little and often is a great mantra when it comes to incorporating ecofriendly behaviour into daily life. Here’s some quick tips:
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Re-use your boiled veggie water – it is nutrient dense and great for your garden. Tip your flower vase water onto your indoor or outdoor plants. Buy a paper shredder. Rip up egg cartons, cardboard boxes and toilet roll holders for your compost and worm farms. Buy chickens if you have room – they are the ultimate food waste disposal system. Reuse envelopes for writing notes and To Do lists on. Or use them for seed saving if you are a gardener. Use keep cups for takeaway beverages. Op shop everything! Shop at wholefood co-ops etc for zero plastic use. Visit farmers markets. Bring carry bags and BYO containers when shopping to eliminate plastic waste. Reuse jars and bottles and use beeswax wraps for food storage, etc. Only buy what you need. Use the half-flush option on toilets or don’t flush if it’s a ‘yellow’ deposit. Buy a small blackboard for your pantry/kitchen bench to write your shopping on; take a pic with your phone (if you have one) for your supermarket/market trips – paperfree shopping lists rock! Buy a bamboo toothbrush.
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Refuse straws in your drinks. Don’t decorate parties and special occasions with balloons; think of alternatives that don’t end up in turtles’ and other aquatic-dwelling animals’ mouths. Turn off all unused power points/ appliances when not in use. Find a compost system via ShareWaste app/website, and drop off your scraps for the greater good – if they end up at the rubbish tip that’s not cool at all! If you have time volunteer for an environmental cause. Write to your local members and environment ministers (state and federal) and tell them how they can help with your environmental and social concerns. Buy ugly fruit at the supermarket. Build a garden or join a community garden, or build a garden at your kids’ school with other parents and teachers. Buy a copy of Retrosuburbia by David Holgrem and inspire yourself and maybe your neighbours by taking direct action in your neighbourhood. Don’t switch on the dishwasher or washing machine until it’s completely full. Buy sustainable gifts/flowers when gift giving.
Of course there’s a million more ideas, but hopefully these tips will provide inspiration and ultimately gets the brain juices flowing. Let’s all try to do what we can when we can. Our planet will benefit from little easy daily practices, often. We have an environmental and social responsibility which will affect our long-term sustainability. A mass collective action is a great approach to making Mother Earth happy. Together we can create change.
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Ban the Bag Words by La Vergne Lehmann Photography Supplied
As we head towards the middle of 2019 we are fast approaching Plastic Free July. Plastic Free July aims to raise awareness of the amount of single-use disposable plastic in our lives and challenges people to do something about it. It has become very clear that single-use plastics are and will continue to be a problem while we (collectively) do not act.
As a retailer, choosing to go plastic bag free you can:
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By 2050 it’s estimated there will be more plastic than fish in the world’s oceans. Most comes from land and was once in our hands. If we refuse single-use plastic then we can keep our oceans clean.
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Plastics were developed in the early 20th century and were environmentally important, replacing ivory, tortoiseshell, horn and other plant and animal products. By the 1960s plastic had gone from being used in durable items to widespread use including disposable plastic packaging – essentially too much of a good thing. Every piece of plastic ever produced still remains somewhere on the earth today. In the last half of the 20th century over 1 billion tonnes of plastic was produced. This figure doubled in the first 10 years of this century. Most of the commonly used disposable plastic items are employed for convenience and the numbers are staggering. In one week, we go through 10 billion plastic bags worldwide. In the USA an average of 2.5 million plastic bottles are used every hour, whilst over 500 million straws are used daily. The numbers for Australia are similar per capita – we purchased 726 million litres of water in 2015 – this amounts to approximately 2 billion bottles of water a year, or around 5.5 million a day. Recycling is important but it will never be the solution to rapidly expanding consumption. The focus needs to be on refusing, reducing and reusing. Although many plastic products can be recycled, actual rates of recycling are often low – particularly away from home at events and public places. The first step is now being taken with plastic bag bans becoming commonplace in many jurisdictions. The focus is now on working with retailers and consumers to make these bans successful.
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make your business stand out by adding an element of distinction to your products with reusable or paper bags; make the most of an excellent marketing opportunity by promoting being ‘Proudly plastic bag free’ on your website and other promotional materials, showing that you are part of the global trend away from plastic bags; embrace the opportunity for positive media coverage of your business in articles and interviews about the project, demonstrating your commitment to protecting the local environment and supporting community initiatives; reduce your operating costs by reducing your customers’ use of disposable bags (and in some cases reducing your waste disposable costs by reusing boxes that would otherwise be thrown away).
You may be surprised at just how many of your customers will understand and support your efforts. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that customers are becoming increasingly concerned about environmental issues such as plastic bags and are willing to support change in the retail sector. Communication is also the key to a smooth transition. Providing information to your customers will help them to understand why you’re going plastic bag free. If you can clearly explain why you are going without plastic bags, most customers will support your efforts. It is also important that your staff understand what you are doing so that they can help promote this change as well. The five steps to going plastic bag free are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Place some signage near the counter for your customers explaining the change and reminding people to bring their own bags. Always ask each customer whether they need a bag before giving them one. Provide reusable bags for sale and encourage your customers to use them. Replace plastic bags with paper or bioplastic bags. Have reused cardboard boxes easily available for your customers. Consider introducing a fee for paper or bioplastic bags to encourage customers to bring their own bag, or introducing an incentive for bringing their own bag or refusing a bag.
Plastic bag bans are just the first step in reducing our use of single-use plastics – there is plenty more to come and some more progressive jurisdictions are already working on phasing out other single-use plastic options such as balloons, straws, plates, cups and cutlery. ― sustainable ―
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Sustainability and the Future of Mobility – A View from the UK Words by Alan MacLeod Photography Supplied
Alan MacLeod has held senior management roles in both asset management and project development for multinational energy organisations. During Alan’s 30year career he has held a number of posts in FTSE 100 companies as both a senior manager and latterly as a technical consultant.
How we travel in our major cities will become one of the most significant lifestyle transformations of the future. In addition to electric mobility, transport is fast becoming more automated; self-driving vehicles will be introduced onto UK roads by 2021 and deployment of a “Cooperative Intelligent Transport System” on Europe’s roads will allow vehicles to ‘talk’ to each other about dangerous situations, road works and even traffic light timing!
Alan founded international energy consultancy 3PV Energy. He is also founder and CEO of Pure Energy (REGen) Ltd, a company that encourages a renewable energy future for businesses, by developing renewable energy sector infrastructure, with a focus on sustainable transport infrastructure, including both fixed and mobile electric vehicle (EV) charging technology and data analytics.
Google Maps and similar satnav services already collect real-time traffic data and suggest congestion-avoiding alternatives. In future “open” data combined with machine-learning will make journey times very accurate; we also won’t need multiple bus and train timetable formats, or road maps, as data sources become even more accessible.
In common with Junkies, Pure Energy is interested in forming partnerships with like-minded individuals and companies who are passionate about making important environmentally significant changes so that we can live our lives to the max, without damaging the one element that unites us all – our planet.
Today we travel less per person than two decades ago, but due to population growth overall transport demand is rising. We’re also tending to commute less while doing more online shopping (with same day delivery the future norm). Young people are less likely to own a car, as they value “experiences” (e.g. social media) rather than “things”, while older people are now driving more than they used to.
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90%
13.4
million electric vehicles by 2022
26.2 million car sharing members using just 0.5 million cars
of cars sold in 2020 will feature connectivity
Over 50 cities worldwide will have zero emiision taxis
Clean Transport Many Western governments have pledged that by 2040 all new vehicles sold will be either electric or hybrid. New modes of transport are emerging, including drones, electric scooters, e-bikes and e-cargo bikes. In Europe we are also adapting to shared mobility – not just traditional transit options (buses, metros, rail) but also ride-sharing, and car clubs like BlaBla.com, ZipCar and HiyaCar.com. Docked/dockless bicycles are actively promoted in most major European cities.
The micro-mobility market is expected to explode, with over 125 models predicted to be launched
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million connected cars by 2020
The need to create new digitally enabled business models has enabled companies such as UBER ride-hailing and further development of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) technology. MaaS describes digital platforms (such as smartphone apps) through which people access a range of public, shared and private transport, using systems that integrate planning, booking and paying for travel. Clean transport combined with convenient technology will define the future of mobility, primarily in our major cities and eventually throughout all our populated regions.
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Australia – Get a Move On! Australia is more at risk from climate change than almost any other country in the developed world. Australia was responsible for just 1.1% of global emissions in 2016, ranking Australia No. 16 among the most polluting countries in the world. And yet, per capita, it’s acknowledged as being among the worst. According to the World Economic Forum, Australia, is among the only large economies ranking high on economic growth and energy security, and among those with the highest carbon intensity of fuel mix, per-capita. Australia also ranks almost last in preparedness to transition to a “secure, sustainable, affordable, and reliable energy future” – ranking 28 out of 32 countries by consumption and carbon emissions in the world. Where the average overall Energy Transition Index score for advanced economies sits at 88/100, Australia scores just 59/100. Australia’s score on “transition readiness” is even lower, at 54%.
The current status appears surprising when you consider the availability of cheap, clean electricity in the nation. Let’s be clear, there is no cheaper source of energy available to Australians than renewable energy, period. The opportunity for Australia to be a leader in sustainable transportation solutions is significant. Whilst Melbourne and Canberra are notable leaders in the fight against climate change, aiming to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the overall picture for the nation is not altogether encouraging. To grasp the opportunity, at both government and local levels, takes courage and vision.
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“If it can’t be reduced, reused, repaired, rebuilt, refurbished, refinished, resold, recycled or composted, then it should be restricted, redesigned or removed from production.” – Pete Seeger
SUBSCRIBE & WIN Warndui Mai (Good Food) RRP $45.00
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A fully illustrated contemporary cookbook featuring Australian native foods that is the perfect resource for any Aussie kitchen. This gorgeous illustrated, informative and contemporary cookbook and compendium of native foods will show you how to create truly Australian food and drinks at home. With a few small adjustments and a little experimentation you can prepare delicious food that is better for the Australian environment, is more sustainable and celebrates the amazing ingredients that are truly local.
Warndu Mai (Good Food) contains information about seasonal availability, hints, tips and over 80 illustrated and accessible recipes showcasing Australian native foods, using ingredients such as Kakadu plum, native currants, finger lime and pepperberry to create unique dishes and so much more. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a must-have for every kitchen.
hachette.com.au/rebecca-sullivan-damien-coulthard/warndu-mai-good-food-introducing-native-australian-ingredients-to-your-kitchen warndu.com
love Junkies
Subscribe junkies.com.au Subscribe to Junkies by 6 September 2019 for you chance to win a copy of Warndu Mai (Good Food)!
Granny Skills Words by La Vergne Lehmann
It has become fashionable, even hip, to take up some of the so-called old-fashioned skills of our grandparents (or even great grandparents’ time). But the reality is that in an age of overpackaging and overconsumption, getting back to basics and keeping things simple might just be the way to reduce our waste burden. With the help of Granny Skills guru, Rebecca Sullivan, Grampians Central West Waste & Resource Recovery Group has put together a new ‘Granny Skills’ guide to help people move from expensive cleaning and beauty products to homemade versions that are easy to make and can be done with what you have in the pantry. Food waste is also tackled in this new guide – mainly to ensure that when we have excess – be it fruit or vegetables – there are some easy ways to use it up. The bottom line is that we need to prevent or avoid waste before we create it, and Granny knew all about that! The new guide is available at: recyclingrevolution.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/ Granny-Skills-booklet-FINAL.pdf
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SALTBUSH KITCHEN The Australian Store
Saltbush Kitchen is a new Australian experiene to delight your senses. Visit, indulge and discover the finest of Australian Bushfood produce. OPEN SUNDAYS 10 am to 5pm and during the week by appointment. Commercial Street Buninyong Victoria down the lane off Warrenheip Street
www.saltbushkitchen.com.au
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Book Reviews Reviews by Jo Canham
A Basket by the Door Recipes for comforting gifts and joyful gatherings Sophie Hansen Murdoch Books An alternative title for this book could have been, Foods which double as a Hug. In a time of need – a new baby, a family member in hospital, grief – is there anything more thoughtful than a homecooked gift? A gift that has been delivered to your door, and, in the case of the truly perfect gift, surreptitiously left on the doorstep so there’s no actual intrusion, but the message is clear: you are cared for; someone is thinking of you. This wonderful cookbook is full of gorgeous recipes that have been selected for their nurturing qualities: rustic, tried and true pies, sausage rolls, scones, cakes, cordials and condiments. Along with the recipes are ideas on how best to create unique care packages, picnics or pantry fillers. The emphasis is always on local produce and, in fact, Sophie Hansen was awarded Australian Rural Woman of the year (2016) in recognition of her commitment to rural communities. As well as ideas for the ‘basket by the door’, there are also recipes and suggestions to cater for larger gatherings and celebrations. This cookbook, sumptuously adorned with Sophie’s own photography, is a book for everyone. < 96
A Velocity of Being Letters to a Young Reader Maria Popova & Claudia Bedrick (editors) Enchanted Lion Books This is probably the most beautiful book we’ve seen this year. Many readers may already be familiar with the brilliant Brain Pickings, an online journal by Maria Popova that presents regular philosophical reflections on writers, artists and thinkers. It’s a wonderful antidote to the news and politics of our day, and has been running now for 12 or so years. With this book, Maria, in collaboration with Claudia, has compiled a book of letters from an incredible array of well-known people, including writers, artists, philosophers, gamers and musicians, addressed to the young readers of today. Each letter is matched with an illustration or artwork by another artist. There is a letter from Amanda Palmer with the advice that books are not like vegetables, in that you don’t have to finish them if you don’t want to – and her letter has been brought to life by an illustration from Norweigian artist, Oyvind Torseter. Musician Yo-Yo Ma writes of his childhood literary heroes, and Iranian artist Narges Mohammadi has provided the accompanying illustration. There are no less than 121 letters – including those by Neil Gaiman, Jane Goodall, Marina Abramovic and David Byrne. Proceeds from the sale of this book go back into New York’s public library system. A beautiful book with a big, beating heart. ― book―
Craftfulness Mend yourself by making things Rosemary Davidson & Arzu Tahsin Hachette Another argument in the case for production instead of consumption, this book highlights the positive effects on mental health that come with working with your hands to create something – a picture, a pot, or a piece of patchwork quilting, for example. Divided into three parts, this little volume has enough information and inspiration to get you started in whatever interests you – and if you aren’t even sure of that, it offers ideas on how to go about finding a crafty outlet that will work for you (hint: look to your childhood). Part 1 discusses creativity and its health-giving properties, with supporting evidence. Part 2 tackles obstacles and misconceptions that might be holding you back, and provides inspiration for the beginner. Part 3 has some very helpful stepby-step guides (tasters, if you will) for beginning projects. Dr Melanie Cheng, Australian GP and author (winner of the Victorian Premier’s Award for Fiction, 2017) discussed in a recent interview how creative outlets for doctors – such as writing – can increase not only their wellbeing but also their empathy in dealing with patients in their practice. This book can help us start to find a balance between our responsibilities and our need for personal fulfilment and creativity.
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PIP MAGAZINE
THE AUSTRALIAN PERMACULTURE MAGAZINE WASTE-FREE LIVING . BONE BROTHS . GROWING POTATOES GROW NUTRIENT DENSE FOOD . WINTER KNITS ENVIRONMENTAL GUILT . ZERO WASTE PETS . HOMEGROWN TEAS
SUBSCRIBE SUBSCRIBE ONLINE Also available at newsagents and selected stockists
www.pipmagazine.com.au
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Are you a Maker? Calling all the makers out there: we want to hear from you! All you fabulous makers of food, makers of art, makers of craft; reusers of junk, gardening gurus – drop us a line and tell us about your creative passion. We are excited to announce a special edition of Junkies which will be on sale in December called “The Makers Edition”. If your crafty endeavours align with the Junkies ethos and you want your work showcased, contact us asap. For more details head to our website under The Makers tab to find out more information on how you can become part of our coffee-table edition of Junkies.
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Some are born great, some achieve greatness, some skip all that and talk to us.
When you use Finsbury Green youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re working with one of the most sustainable print solution providers in the world. So, you can be confident weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re protecting your reputation too!
finsbury.com.au
Every day at Munash Organics, we celebrate life. Human life, plant life and soil life. Made with love from our family to yours.
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