Newspaper Christmas Wreath

Every year I feel more and more conflicted about Christmas. It's a wonderful time for catching up with loved ones and letting people around you know that you appreciate them with gifts, cards and fantastic food. Yet, it is also so filled with stressy consumerism and disposability that goes against everything I (and many people close to me) believe in. So, how pleased I was when I discovered Eco Empire and saw the wonderful DIY Christmas craft projects that they are currently featuring.

All the projects are centered around recyclable and reusable materials - reusable bon-bons anyone! That's so simple, yet so genius. Does anybody ever really like those cheap plastic trinkets and bad jokes anyway?

Below is my version of the Recyclable Paper Christmas Wreath, now hanging proudly on my front door. I realised part way through making this that it is mostly the births, deaths and marriage notice pages from the West Australian newspaper. I quite liked the irony and symbolism of endings and beginnings that this unplanned feature brings to it.

Thanks so much Eco Empire for lifting my Christmas spirit!

Waste Landscape

Something fasinating I stumbled across on the net today... amazing!

elise morin + clémence eliard: wastelandscape
At 'halle d'aubervilliers', Le Centquatre in Paris.
On exhibition until 10 September 2011

In the artist's words:
'made of petroleum, this reflecting slick of CDs forms a still sea of metallic dunes;
the artwork's monumental scale reveals the precious aspect of a small daily object.'

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