The suburban footpaths and nature strips of Darwin have been the mainstay of local artist Trevor Jenkins with his palm-frond and found rubbish ephemeral sculptures that pop up all year round. This Xmas the folks at Moil Physiotherapy have claimed back some of the street for an upcycled eco-installation of their own.
For the past few weeks you would have been forgiven when driving down Lee Point Rd at night for thinking you were in a scene from the 1982 cult classic The Dark Crystal. Tall, angular, shrouded mystics with milk bottle heads have been haunting the pavements; wanderers from afar bearing gifts and following a bright star. And although they themselves were not actually moving, if you were watching their progress over time you would have noticed they they were often moved, ever closer to manger full of a menagerie of interesting animals.
Only days ago, angels with plastic plate faces appeared some four metres above the earth. And finally today, a heavily pregnant milk bottle Mary and her trusty iced-coffee donkey made it into the manger with little baby Jesus asleep on the hay.
Across the road Jenkins’ wilting sculptures watch over the scene, confirming for me at least a wonderful Xmas message; one that could even herald the salvation of the world!
Instead of filling our homes with lots of new rubbish this year, why not find fantastic, strange and creative things to do with the old stuff. Happy Festivus!
