Madeleine Minack, Arthur Dimitriou, Iona Mackenzie, Freda Drakopoulos, Emma Berry, Liv Moriarty, Julien Comer-Kliene, Rachel Button, Jemi Gale with Sol Fernandez and Mia Sokolic.

The concept for Zombie, seeks to concentrate on Craft Victoria's celebration of innovation through avenues of creative practice. Artistic expression regularly performs as a social pioneer to elicit a change of perceptions and attitudes towards controversial issues within a community. Reflected across current political spheres, economic investments and greater industry, the desire to reduce human impact on our surrounding environment is becoming increasingly prevalent. With the echoes of the climate justice movement, our proposed exhibition will involve independent and collaborative pieces that will not only refocus attention towards this already well-known cause, but also offer hope to our audience through proposing solutions to the ecological catastrophe we all face.

Mirroring the existing challenges faced on a global and localised scale in managing and reducing landfills; specifically we are exploring how we may manipulate the destructive consequences of an untenable wasteful system. This creates new ecologies where “old” matter is now vibrant. Our primary attention is on perceived undead substances as they contribute the most to landfill. Matter and rubbish that we deem to be superfluous from future use is then categorised as either dead, undead, or alive. Through the use of these abandoned and found materials, once seen as waste, the exhibition serves to illuminate the question of how we may create new objects from these undead substances, and how this material exploration may inspire more sustainable practices. 

Image: Iona Mackenzie, 'Spill', digital image, 2022.