Taupō Museum exhibition entry combines art and recycling

Jenn Parker has collected large quantities of lakeside litter for her art project, including plastic, pottery and glass.

Taupō Museum’s popular ONE Hundred exhibition is set to return for 2023, and one local artist is using the opportunity to bring attention to an important cause: lakeside litter.

The show, which begins on December 16, will display 100 artworks by local amateur, professional and first-time artists aged 12 and over.

Every artist submits their work, in any medium from painting to weaving to photography, on a provided 30cm x 30cm canvas.

Jenn Parker said the idea to create her artwork using plastic and other types of litter retrieved from Lake Taupō's beaches came naturally to her, as art and nature are both close to her heart.

“I’ve been environmentally conscious for a while, I’m someone who thrifts and I’m always picking up rubbish, so this is more of playing on that.

“I was sitting there one day and thought, ‘There’s so much plastic here, and I could use this to highlight the problem.’

“I have a BFA [Bachelor of Fine Arts] in art, so I’ve gone to uni for art.

“I use art in my everyday life as a means to create mental health advocacy.”

Parker, who also runs the mental-health awareness social media page Jenn has ADHD, plans to use the litter she’s collected to create a mosaic-style artwork that represents the natural landscape.

As well as helping clean up the lakefront, Parker said the project was helping her deal with the worry of the amount of plastic waste.

“It’s about my mental health as well.

“I go into the supermarket and see all this plastic... I do have a bit of climate anxiety and there’s something about doing something about it.”

As for the types of rubbish Parker has found, the list is long but includes many different plastic objects.

“I think for the picking up of the rubbish part, it’s been about 16 hours [so far].

“I’ve picked up maybe 10,000 pieces of plastic rubbish.

“The mouth of the Waikato is most alarming to me. You’ve got the storm drains and I think most of it is coming from there.

“It’s just crazy the sorts of plastic.

“There’s a lot of orange stuff- I think they come off brake lights.

“A lot of Lego bits, cable ties, there’s so much glass that I couldn’t even begin to pick it all up.

“Bread tags I was surprised to find less of, I’ve only found a few, but one was from 2012 so it’s been there all that time.”

Canvases are still available for the ONE Hundred exhibition at Taupō Museum. For more information, call Taupō Museum on 07 376 0414 or email taupomuseum@taupo.govt.nz.

Milly Fullick is a journalist based in Taupō. She joined the Taupō and Tūrangi Herald team in 2022.

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