A Perth woman's innovative idea to create art from expired COVID-19 tests has blossomed into a full gallery exhibition featuring over 30 pieces of artwork. Utilising 10,000 tests donated by her local community, she transformed what was considered trash into an immersive art experience, showcasing a unique form of creativity and recycling.
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00:00 Amanda Kirk works with COVID tests every day, but not for the reason you might think.
00:08 She's created art pieces using expired tests, from dresses to chandeliers, and even a portrait
00:14 of former Premier Mark McGowan, with Ellenbrook Art HQ as her canvas.
00:19 All I could think about was if we only have five or ten at our house, how many were going
00:23 into landfill?
00:24 So I pulled them apart and saw what was inside and, you know, the artist in me decided that
00:28 I wanted to do something with them.
00:30 Around 10,000 expired tests have gone into this exhibition.
00:34 Amanda's spent over a year creating the body of work.
00:37 Waste shouldn't be just on the individual.
00:39 It really should be a bigger issue that we need to look at.
00:42 It's usually negative, but sometimes with a little bit of imagination you can do something
00:46 awesome.
00:47 During the pandemic, recycling expired tests wasn't always a priority and the majority
00:52 ended up being thrown out, ending up in landfill.
00:56 Like many people, I was too busy trying to learn how to work from home, how to cope with
01:03 the demands of juggling with the kids and with the workplace.
01:07 The COVID tests were really a tool, so yeah, I never really thought of them as an art-making
01:12 material.
01:13 The Gallery encourages people to make personal contributions by writing memories of the pandemic
01:18 onto an expired test, turning their experiences into art.
01:22 [silence]