By Goya Dmytryshchak
Altona’s Peter Forward is using his art to raise awareness of Australian bush creatures at risk of extinction and the threats to their habitats.
Using cardboard thrown out by shops, glue and an angle grinder, he sculpts works based on the threatened Australian species.
Among the animals he has created are the burrowing bettong, leadbeater’s possum, brush-tailed phascogale, spot-tailed quoll, numbat, bilby, potoroo, squirrel glider and yellow-footed rock-wallaby.
One of his sculptures is of Australia’s most endangered marsupial – Gilbert’s potoroo.
“I wanted to emphasise this one because there’s maybe a dozen left – and then they’re gone, gone forever,” Forward said.
The recycled cardboard, a product basically made of wood chips, sends a message of its own.
“We cut down our forests, which is the homes of these guys,” Forward said.
Forward is seeking spaces to exhibit his art to educate people about native animals and the threats they face.
To follow his work, visit Peter Forward’s Artist Diary on Facebook.
