Yellowknife artists showed how to turn trash into treasure over the weekend during an art exhibition that the head of Ecology North hopes will make people think twice about trash.
More than a dozen pieces were on view in the Wildcat Café during the annual Trash Formation Art Show, held this year in collaboration with the Yellowknife Artist Cooperative.
“It’s a great example of how objects, our old trash, can lead a different life,” said Dawn Tremblay, managing director of Ecology North. “Yellow knives are so creative.”
However, Tremblay hopes the show will encourage more than just an impressive display of imagination to take a more critical look at the waste they generate.
“It’s really important to remember that we are at the end of the road, we don’t want full land instead of a landfill,” she said. “We want to make sure that only the smallest possible amount ends up in this landfill.”
She also hoped the show inspired people.
“I hope they see their trash differently and maybe that pile of recycling will turn into a pile of craft supplies to share with kids or neighbors.”
By the end of September, the Yellowknife Artist Cooperative will transform the Wildcat Café into a center for artists. Program coordinator Sofia Grogono says working with Ecology North to host the show was a good fit.
“It [Trash-formation] is really in the spirit of Yellowknife and Old Town and that mentality of gathering it all up and working with it, â€she said. “The Wildcat is that kind of space where you… create beauty and goodness and community out of what you have. “
