Why I Joined Re:Use Collective

A few years ago I was invited to join Re:Use Collective, a group of women artists who share a concern for the environment, their families, and the urge to create. It turned out I already knew almost everyone in the collective from my Comet Project Space days, so it felt a bit like stepping into a reunion.

Re:Use Collective is all about working with found and collected cast-offs, things that would otherwise be discarded and turning them into artworks that spark conversations about production, consumption, and sustainability. We’re not just interested in making “art from rubbish” for its own sake; we want to push audiences (and ourselves) to think differently about how materials are valued, used, and reused. One of the things I value most is having a group of like-minded artists to lean on, not just for exhibitions we do together, but for our own projects too. The art world can be tough, and being an artist can sometimes feel isolating. Having others who understand what you’re going through, who you can bounce ideas off, and who offer honest advice is a kind of support network you can’t put a price on.

What I love about the collective is that we each have our own visual language and material focus. Some work with textiles, some with polystyrene, some with canvas, and me… mostly plastic. That variety makes working together both exciting and a little tricky. The idea of “recycled materials” isn’t strong enough on its own to bind a show together, so we push ourselves to find deeper shared contexts.

Our most recent exhibition, Curiosities of Status at Corban Estate Arts Centre, explored the human urge to covet, collect, and display. In the 1800s, wealth and social status were shown through luxurious furnishings and rare objects. For this show, we recreated the feel of a lavish historic home, but instead of gold and marble, we used the “precious” materials of our own time: the ubiquitous, mass-produced items that fill our lives and are often discarded without a second thought. Together, our works challenged viewers to think about what we consume, what we value, and why.

For me, this show came on the heels of Earth Matters, where I created Off Cuttings, a series made entirely from the smallest remnants of my plastic bottle works. Normally, those little fragments would end up in the bin, but using them opened up a whole new way of thinking for me. It made me question what “waste” even means in my own practice, and how overlooked scraps could take on a new identity and value.

That shift in perspective carried into Curiosities of Status. Both projects were about reframing what we might otherwise dismiss, asking: what else could this become? What other story could it tell? And for me, that’s what being part of Re:Use Collective is really about, exploring those questions together, and making some very creative messes along the way.