The Worn Debris Collective

Collecting found discarded materials, the Pilbara, Western Australia. Image by Dianna Boyd
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The Worn Debris Collective 

By Pennie Jagiello

The Worn Debris Collective (WDC) would like to officially announce the very exciting news that it has been selected into the 2019 Radiant Pavilion Contemporary Jewellery and Object Biennial program!

http://www.radiantpavilion.com.au/about.html 

I would again like to give a very big heartfelt THANK YOU to all who  have so kindly and generously donated to this project so far, raising funds for the WDC to commence, for which I am so very grateful. 

This enabled Stage 1 to proceed, flying to Nijmegen in the Netherlands to attend the opening of the Galerie Marzee 2018 International Graduate Show, discuss my exhibited works and share my ongoing research at the artist’s symposium. It was here that the WDC project was officially launched, establishing new international relationships and connections, with the first round of participants selecting a WDC envelope of mysterious contents of anthropogenic debris I collected around Australia.

https://www.galeriemarzee.com/the-marzee-international-graduate-show-2018/

Countless hours absorbed at museums in Nijmegen and Amsterdam, provided further research reinforcing natural history collections containing not only the globally practiced act of adornment throughout the ages, but the prevalence of human made debris. Past civilisations have been discovered and researched through what has been made and discarded, with the era of the Anthropocene defined by its irreversible impacts upon the climate and environment as a direct result of unsustainable practices. From bones and earthenware that were naturally absorbed back into the earth, to plastics and endless unsustainable synthetic materials that will remain forever as the fossils of the Anthropocene. 

The Worn Debris Collective investigates human made waste, re-imagined as wearable heirlooms we leave behind for future generations. There are exciting and mysterious twists and turns bestowed upon all that will participate in this creative collaborative community project.

With more than 30 artist’s currently participating in this collective project from around the world, the WDC aims to foster ongoing installations, workshops and artists talks to engage with new and broader community audiences, and participation investigating human made debris through contemporary jewellery.

It is time to ramp it up and launch into Stage 2 of the WDC!


Discarded plastic mat, the Pilbara, Western Australia.Image by Bewley Shaylor, courtesy of FORM, Perth.
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Brief:

The Worn Debris Collective is a collaborative project that invites all creative disciplines and the general public from around the globe to participate in an exchange of collected discarded human made debris, hosting a series of interactive workshops and exhibitions across Australia and internationally. When faced with the challenge of wearing our waste we are forced to physically engage with disposable anthropogenic debris.

The medium of contemporary jewellery objects is a creative and hands on approach to investigating disposable waste, connecting us with that which we discard never actually goes away. Jewellery and adornment are an age old universally practiced and recognized creative medium with many meanings and associations and is relatable without words as a creative language therefore making it an engaging way to address and connect with the impacts of anthropogenic debris.

The Worn Debris Collective has already begun to form new relationships between contemporary jewellers and creatives around the world, to broaden the community of practice of this creative medium, while providing a platform for awareness of and creative sustainable solutions to our disposable culture. In wearing our disposable waste, we are wearing responsibility to this global issue- wearing remains to be seen, worn, and heard.


'Expended heirlooms, Pilbara remains #12', hand cut & carved found discarded plastic floor mat, deconstructed rope. Image by Screaming Pixels.
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Brief outcomes so far:

-        Continued research on human made debris investigated through contemporary jewellery objects, as a creative medium to convey our impacts far and wide upon the environment, and therefore on ourselves as wearable objects

-        The WDC launched with new international connections and participants established while in the Netherlands.

-        The first WDC envelopes filled with found discarded human made materials collected around Australia, each sealed and numbered, were hand selected by artists abroad, awaiting further instructions

-        Confirmation of the first Australian and New Zealand participants, allowing the WDC project to provide a creative platform of new connections among contemporary jewellers with an anchor point in Australia as the first point of exchange and collaboration

Brief outline with intended outcomes:

-        Exchange and collaborate through found, discarded human made debris, challenging our creative practices with imposed materials

-        Raising awareness for changes needed towards creative sustainable making, and assisting a more sustainable future

-        Investigating these discarded materials re-imagined as wearable heirlooms we leave behind us

-        Establish wearable dialogue, accessible to all audiences, with contemporary jewellery as a universal language with no need for words

-         To convey the worldwide impacts and consequences of unsustainable practices, through the act of making and wearing, the responsibility of worn debris

-        Through sharing and collaborating, individual and unique creative practices from around the globe are highlighted and challenged within the enforced use of discarded human made debris

-        Continuing a cycle of environmentally considered creative collaborations as each new collection of WDC envelopes are filled with discarded contents gathered by artists from around the globe, ready for the next group of makers creative intervention

-        The WDC through the medium of contemporary jewellery offers a unique way to present the impacts and consequences of human made debris, as an alternative or partner to scientific study with wearable statistics of this worldwide predicament, presented and conveyed through transdisciplinary and collaborative practices

-        Facilitate workshops encouraging contemporary jewellers and creatives outside this community of practice, non-makers and the broader community including school groups

-        Investigating impacts of human made debris upon local and global environs to form personal connections to this debris, and site-specific pollution

-        The WDC through the conscious act of making art with our hands assists so many aspects of our mental and physical well-being. It is the perfect way to revive practical manual dexterity that in today’s society is in serious decline due to the rise of dependence on technology, impacts upon our resourcefulness and resilience, and our ability to (re)connect with nature

-        To involve the community with through personal engagement, raising awareness of this serious environmental concern by ‘wearing’ responsibility

-        The WDC aims to raise funds towards accommodation assisting up to 2 international participants to stay in Melbourne to assist with installation of the WDC exhibition, run workshops, offering a unique opportunity to experience Melbourne while being a part of Radiant Pavilion Contemporary Jewellery and Object Biennial, September 2019

-        The WDC aims to foster a series of ongoing exhibitions, workshops, education programs and events supporting a global network for sustainable creative environmental education projects, for community participation and engagement

-        The WDC has applied to participate in multiple Melbourne based programs that will connect and cross over, allowing the project to continue and grow, developing a broader audience and unique transdisciplinary collaborations                                                                      

 
Stage 2) Funding required to continue the WDC  prior to May 2019

- Costs towards accommodation allowing up to 2 international participants to stay in Melbourne for Radiant Pavilion, September 2019  
 $1000                                                                                                  

- Exhibition costs including venue, administration, transportation, installation, opening event                                 
$3000                                                                            

- Catalogue, guest contributors, editor, photography, printing
$3000

- Freight, facilitating workshops, preparation, artists talks and  wage
$6000

- Public liability insurance                                                                 
$1000

- Tools                                                                                                    
$1000

Total funding required:

$15,000


The first round of envelopes selected by participants while in Nijmegen, Netherlands, numbered, sealed, and filled with discarded  human made materials collected around Australia.                    
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Additional information on my background research can be read in my Masters of Fine Art (RMIT) titled 'Remains to be seen, worn, and heard. An inquiry into anthropogenic debris investigated through contemporary jewellery objects' :

http://researchbank.rmit.edu.au/list/author_id/50011713/ 
 

Please share my project with others as you or someone you know may have the opportunity to spread their creative wings and join the WDC.
 
Your time to read and consider helping The Worn Debris Collective project come to life is very much appreciated, thank you…

Pennie Jagiello

(Cover image : Collecting discarded materials with abandoned shopping trolley, Pilbara, Western Australia. Image by Bewley Shaylor, courtesy of FORM, Perth)