‘Transit_1’, 13 December – 22 December 2006, The British School at Rome, Rome, Italy
Australia Council Resident Artist, British School at Rome, October – December 2006
Collecting discarded items of Italian design and packaging in Rome, resulted in an installation of fifteen small collage works titled, Cornucopia: small offerings. As a symbol of plenty that reflects ancient and contemporary Rome, the work references traditional artisans techniques and materials alongside modern and contemporary artefacts. It seeks less permanent equivalents for the precious and semiprecious materials of gold, silver, lapis, porphyry and marble, in materials such as: printed paper, tin foil, wax papers and cardboard. Items such as: sweet and cake wrappers, cigarette packets, gold foil, confetti and other consumables packaging, indicate the brilliance and history of (modern) Italian design, against the pervasive problems associated with consumerism, waste and recycling.
Nicole Ellis