Torres Strait Island Workshops

Transforming Trash to Treasure

The Hunter Gatherer Network team will visit the remote Torres Strait Islands in northern Australia (12-20th May), where these communities are seriously impacted by foreign coastal marine debris and ghost gear pollution.  Louise Hardman (Plastic Collective) and Jeremy Sheehan (Bay School of Arts) will run a number of workshops in the Torres Strait Islands on how to transform marine debris, ghost nets and ropes into saleable materials through the Hunter Gatherer Network marketplace. 

The marketplace app platform is being developed in collaboration with Charles Sturt University, as part of a Ghost Nets Innovative Solutions project with grant funding from the Australian Government.  This will provide remote communities with an online marketplace for marine debris materials and artworks.

The Hunter Gatherer Network project also provided specialised tools and equipment to eight remote indigenous art groups to expand their opportunities in developing local creative enterprises.  Our team met these amazing art groups and individuals at the 2024  Cairns Indigenous Art Fair (CIAF) and Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF).  These communities work with various materials including nets, ropes and other discarded coastal materials collected by local Indigenous Land and Sea Ranger groups. 

Photos: (L-R): 1 & 2. Recovered mooring ropes from Weipa. 3 & 4. Hunter Gatherer Network workshops on Bathurst Is. and Melville Is. (Tiwi’s) with the Red Cross women’s art group.

The art communities we connected with, came from northern Qld, NT and NSW, included Wei’Num Arts (Mapoon), Gab Titui Cultural Centre (Thursday Is), Badu Arts (Badhu Is), Erub Arts (Erub/ Darnley Is), Pormpuraaw Art & Cultural Centre (Pormpuraaw), Tiwi College (Melville Is), Tiwi Designs (Bathurst Is), Numbulwar Numburindi Arts (Numbulwar, Arnhem Land) and Yarrawarra Art and Cultural Centre, Corindi. 

The overwhelming feedback from these art communities were for more hands-on workshops to share ideas, techniques and skills in how to transform ghost net and marine debris materials into salable items.  Jeremy’s design processes, armature (wire sculpture) work and techniques were highly in demand, while Louise demonstrated material sorting, processing techniques and identification of plastic material types.  Marketing, presentation, pricing and sales are also key components to developing successful microenterprises in these communities. 

Many artists we met were skillful at utilising a variety of tools and materials, learning by watching and sharing their knowledge and techniques with each other.  Our team started making specific short videos called ‘show me how’, which will provide backup resources for these creative ghost gear recycling workshops. 

For this trip to the Torres Straits, our team will arrive on Thursday Island (Weiben) on Monday 12th May at Gab Titui Cultural Centre, followed by Erub Is. on Wednesday 14th; Mua Is. on Friday 16th and finally Badhu Is. on the 17th and 18th May (Sat/ Sun).  For anyone interested in attending, contact your local art group.  Workshops will run from 9am – 4pm.

We look forward to learning more about the community art groups, sharing our knowledge of how to transform ghost nets, ropes and other marine debris into economic opportunities, as well as sharing innovative art processes, techniques and use of specialised tools and equipment. These communities have a unique opportunity through storytelling, protection of the environment and development of remote community social enterprises. 

We are rigorously testing the app which is currently available for internal and beta testing. And should be available online soon. Through this marketplace platform people can support the great work of these remote communities, where buyers and sellers of materials and artworks can connect together online, with 100% of profits going to the remote communities dealing with coastal marine debris.  

Stay tuned to our Torres Strait Island adventures, and we will share the Hunter Gatherer Network marketplace app very soon.

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