The beloved and I went for a walk through the back streets of Northcote and Brunswick today to visit an exhibition that a friend of ours is curating at Counihan Gallery, Embodied Energies. The works were predominantly statements on sustainability, many made from found and recycled materials, and all of them interesting.

One work, by an artist whose name now completely escapes me, was a Green Waste Sorting Table, which displayed reclaimed waste that was all green; green bottles, lighters, toys, bottle tops, packaging. People were invited to bring their own green waste to be sorted into the work. We had a chat to the artist and he invited us to fill in our green sins on index cards and add them to the pile of sins from others in our community, in return for a recycled badge.

Sins included things like "I spend too long in the shower - I can't help it!" and "I don't compost all my food waste." I chose two sins; I love to travel overseas and am in denial about travel's footprint, and I eat critters from the sea, even though I'm well aware of the damage of over fishing does to fish stocks, trawling does to the sea bed, and long line fishing does to bird populations. Not to mention a multitude of other little green sins.

Here's my badge, chosen because the CC reminded me of Creative Commons, and the maple leaf reminded me of friends in Canada (none of whom I've ever me in person).

The walk itself was like a gallery at times too. Melbourne has had a boom in stencil art in recent years. It reminds me of printmaking, and I love it. Here's a sample.