BY CARISSA DYALL
D E B R I S
Colourful Collective (Alex Childs, Sophie Dahm, Rose de la Monaña)
318 Saint Georges Road, North Fitzroy, November 2018
Deliberate. Intimate. Thought-provoking. A room full of plastic.
D E B R I S was an eye-opening and reflective experience of music, performance art, and documentary, carefully crafted by Colourful Collective.
A glimpse into the current environmental impact of plastic was set on arrival to the venue. Audience members were welcomed and presented with a deliberately chosen token. This was later revealed to be pieces of rubbish dug up from someone’s backyard and carefully washed, showing that plastic can be found anywhere and everywhere. The set was littered with rubbish, forcing anyone on the stage to wade through it; another stark reminder of how much plastic fills our lives.
The night consisted of a documentary split into two halves interspersed with dance, music and spoken word poetry. Consisting of a range of interviews with older generations, the first half of the documentary revealed anecdotal exploration of life before plastic took over the world. There were discussions on how people went about their daily lives without using plastic, providing some great advice on how we can reduce our plastic consumption.
Superimposed on a background of ocean, a recorded performance of Julia Calasso told the scarily real story of nature slowly being taken over by plastic waste. Starting off with holding a bouquet of fresh flowers, the dance evolved as more plastic appeared. It ended with the dancer moving in a sea of waste and the flowers replaced by a bouquet of plastic. The rubbish was in stark contrast to the calm and serene music and movement. This reflective mood was continued in a guitar solo played by Rose de la Montaña.
The spoken word poetry took the form of a caricature lobbyist rebutting the “fake news” presented in the documentary and performance art, and presenting some rather dubious facts: facts that showed plastic was helping humans through preventing the sea life and birds from harming us; and creating an archipelago of garbage islands to help island nations with issues brought on by climate change. Anything can be legitimised. Facts can be skewed to suit arguments.
The second half of the documentary took a more reflective turn to the current state of the world. The roles of capitalism and consumerism were talked about. There was some hope with discussion of slow change with our move away from disposable plastics and towards sustainability.
A piece Rose had specially composed for the program brought the evening to a close, and featured soundscapes created by various plastic rubbish items. This complemented the exquisite costumes the musicians wore, which had been crafted from reused plastic rubbish, showing more innovative ways to give objects a new lease on life.
The entire journey was eye-opening and almost spiritual – warm and reflective with moments of light-hearted humour. From the greeting at the door, through to the set, costumes, and performances, everything was well thought-out and deliberate, leading the audience to contemplate their impact on the environment, and to be more deliberate with their choices in life.
READ NEXT: The creators discuss this work in
“Confronting this crisis” of post-consumer plastic waste
Colourful Collective’s concert was supported by MCM IgniteLab.
Images supplied. Credit: Igor Dallegrave.
