Soon-to-be launched exhibition Decoding the Sea features a range of beach debris collected over the years and re-imagined by artists Rachel Peters and Shelley Knoll-Miller.
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The pair has walked the beaches of Warrnambool together, finding items on the sand that they have transformed into colourful pieces of art.
The work includes grid like collages made from beach-found plastics and organic pieces carefully woven from sea-soaked rope and broken nets.
The established artists said they shared a love of collecting discarded objects and using them to create visual stories.
They said the exhibition featured tiny pieces of plastic they had once admired on the sand, pocketed and brought home, along with old rope, and broken nets that were washed ashore. There are 34 pieces, ranging from tiny grids right through to larger works.
"The growing reports of plastics polluting our oceans and their effect on marine life, can feel depressing and dis-empowering," Peters said. "We create a sense of hope by collecting beach debris and making it into something beautiful."
"It's called Decoding the Sea to get people to see the beauty in the artwork but also to read between the lines and say 'where does this stuff come from and is it something I use in my everyday life?'"
Knoll-Miller said in the water the plastics were a liability to our own health as well as marine life.
"When these plastics are on our walls they do no more harm," she said. "They are just artworks that make us happy."
The exhibition will be launched on Friday night from 6pm to 8pm at the F Project, 224 Timor Street, Warrnambool. All welcome. It runs until April 28.
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