Filmed on the Mornington Peninsula in 2022, where the artist lives, PAPERSAURUS is a homage to the magnificent trees lost during devastating wind storms of 2021. The work invites viewers to contemplate climate change and how deforestation is one of the biggest contributors and equally that re-forestation can be one of the simplest solutions.

The artist’s body is transformed into the waste paper monster, using recycled paper to create the costume for the character who inhabits a world of fallen, dead, burnt and cut trees. The harsh sound of chainsaws, falling trees and axes disrupt the serenity of the bush as PAPERSAURUS journeys through our changing landscape witnessing and participating in environmental destruction.

PAPERSAURUS wants us to reflect on what we can do as individuals to save our planet. Acknowledging that paper and wood come from trees and that cutting them down is no longer an option and that old forests need to be protected.

PAPERSAURUS was exhibited as ‘PAPERSAURUS-Lamenting the void after the last tree has fallen’ (From the Monsters of Waste Series) in 2022 at the Counihan Gallery, Merri-bek as a digital image. It is a statement about the impact of deforestation on the planet. In Australia in August 2022 we had a 64% increase in deforestation from last year at the same time. Humans are creating a mass extinction event, loss of biodiversity, a climate emergency and plagues from cutting down trees. Trees are our life force. We are symbiotically related to them-we breathe together. PAPERSAURUS mourns the emptiness of a world without trees because without trees and plants life on this planet will cease to exist.