Detournement and the Ark

Detournement is an artistic tradition whereby artists deface, collage, reassemble or generally make some creative action to change the meaning, or challenge the meaning in an image.

For my university class we were asked to make a number of collages using detournement, and to look at some challenging issues.

I was initially inspired to use this as an opportunity to make political commentary on Australia's reprehensible refugee policy, but then looked at some other issues as well, such as the church's acceptance of the LGBT community (with a nod and a thankyou to father Rod Bowers), at climate change, at mass species extinction and biodiversity issues, and at evolution science vs. creationism.

It is the first time I have ever done politically charged art, and I find it a really good medium, although I also found it extremely exhausting doing it. It left me emotionally drained, thinking about ways to portray these issues.