Message in a bottle

UCOL Whanganui student Amelia Hitchcock’s award winning entry in the Waiora - Arteries of Aotearoa Art Competition comes with a hard hitting message.

“It’s a warning that if we don’t look after our environment now, the next generations will suffer,” she says.

Her as yet untitled work is a glass fronted display fridge containing numerous baby bottles filled with dirty water. “Environmental issues seem to have become a theme in my work,” says the 3rd year Bachelor of Fine Arts student.

Instigated by Intersect, a nationwide network of young leaders in sustainability, the art competition aimed to explore ideas around water and cultural diversity and was open to young artists between 18 – 25 years. Twenty two year old Amelia was encouraged to enter by her Whanganui UCOL sculpture lecturer Brit Bunkley.

Competitors were required to submit a proposal for an exhibition in any media and a brief statement of what the work meant to them. Amelia’s entry also included a digital collage of her proposed installation. Her top placing earned her $1000 for the material costs to create her winning proposal and $1000 in prize money.

In preparation for her mid July exhibition in Wellington, Amelia has been collecting baby bottles from the neo-natal units at Wanganui and Wellington hospitals. She has also enlisted the help of Massey University ecologist Dr Mike Joy for gathering information and statistics to find appropriately ‘dirty’ water.

“It was not difficult to find visibly polluted water sources to fill the baby bottles,” she says. “There is plenty.”

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