When faced with contemporary art, many art sceptics and non-art audiences turn to generalisations that often lead to dismissive comments such as ‘art is garbage’. Others, with perhaps more open and creative minds, would say that garbage itself can be art. Alison McDonald, an environmental artist from Townsville, belongs to the latter. McDonald sees the wealth of potential hidden all around us; in bottle caps, plastic rings, nuts and bolts—even in those tiny, disposable espresso capsules you find littering staffrooms nationwide. Unfortunately for us, her materials of choice are not hard to find. After all, these days our local parks look more like our local dumps. But it was not always like this. There was indeed a time when families took more care with their rubbish, as was the case with McDonald’s.
Since McDonald and her family lived outside the curb-side garbage collection system, they had to deal with their own waste. As a result, she was raised an avid recycler. Now, ‘…not a single piece of paper’ leaves her house (Alison McDonald, interview, 7 October 2013). Not because she is overly paranoid about personal information, but rather because she takes her recycling seriously—‘I live and breathe recycling’, (Alison McDonald, interview, 7 October 2013). Combine this with her early interest in artists Andy Goldsworthy and Chris Drury and what is left is a unique blend of assemblage and environmental themes imbued within all of her works.
McDonald’s first work with plastic was A Retribution of Rubbish, featured in the 2005 ‘Strand Ephemera’ exhibition in Townsville, Queensland. The sculpture consists of three jellyfish-like constructions made out of plastic bottles, nylon fishing line, wire, and electrical ties. The bottles are tied... The rest of this article is available to subscribers of Eyeline
A Retribution of Rubbish, 2005. Strand Ephemera (1/3). PET plastic bottles, nylon fishing line, wire, and electrical ties, 500 x 140cm.
Just a Drop, 2007. PET Bottles and cable ties, 200 x 110cm. Images courtesy the artist.
