Latest news with #Pooseum
The Guardian
29-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Poop art: animal dung painting competition seeks to break taboo of talking about poo
Karin Koch was inspired to start the world's first animal poo painting competition after purchasing a large and highly detailed painting created out of cow dung by the German artist Werner Härtl. Koch then commissioned the Tasmanian artist Mel Hills to paint wombats using wombat poo and a pademelon with pademelon poo collected from her garden. 'All three paintings are now on display at the Pooseum, so holding a poo painting competition was simply the next logical step,' Koch said. The competition, which began in 2024, is run by Koch, who in 2018 founded the Pooseum, a science museum dedicated to the intriguing world of animal droppings. The idea of opening a museum about faeces came to Koch, who is in her sixties, after a close friend died of bowel cancer in 2016. 'He had noticed blood in his stool for two years but never told anyone,' she said. 'In his generation, talking about such things was taboo and that silence unfortunately cost him his life.' To try and break that taboo and raise awareness of bowel cancer, Koch initially wanted to create an exhibition focused on human faeces. But her focus shifted after she moved to Tasmania to enjoy the island's clean air and endless bushwalking opportunities. 'Surrounded by nature and with animal droppings everywhere I realised that no one had ever dedicated an entire museum to animal faeces despite it being such a fascinating scientific topic,' Koch said. 'So I decided to go ahead and open the Pooseum.' Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email The Poo-tastic Tasmania Paint Off competition is open to amateur and professional artists, but all poo painters must be at least 16 as they need to collect and handle animal droppings. The theme for this year's competition is Expressive Portraits: Faces with Faeces. 'When choosing a subject for their portrait painting, artists should choose someone they know well or admire,' Koch said. Despite animal faeces being the medium, Koch said it's a serious art competition. In their submission, artists must include the artwork, a written description, a short biography of the artist, a high resolution headshot and a video that shows the artist creating their painting. Competitors can submit up to two artworks and there is no registration fee. For those lucky enough to win first, second or third place, their artworks will be put on display at the Pooseum in Richmond – a small town of about 900 people just north of Hobart. The winners will be announced on 8 December.
ABC News
22-06-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Animal poo painting competition aimed at normalising faeces
Tasmanian museum owner Karin Koch created the world's first animal poo painting competition because she's passionate about destigmatising faeces, but also to have fun. Ms Koch is the creator and owner of Pooseum, a primarily science museum dedicated to dung. In 2024, she invited artists to submit works made with animal poo in her inaugural competition called the Poo-tastic Tasmanian Paint Off, with a $2,000 prize on offer for the winner. After a successful first year, the contest returns, this year asking artists to paint "expressive portraits" made with animal poo. A commissioned portrait of former politician, and environmentalist, Bob Brown, painted with pademelon droppings provides inspiration for aspiring poo artists. Ms Koch said the death of a close friend to bowel cancer, who had noticed blood in his stools but kept the information secret for two years, inspired her to open the museum. She initially planned a museum dedicated to human faeces but, after moving from mainland Australia to Tasmania, her focused shifted to animal poo. "For thousands of years, animal faeces have been used in various ways, particularly in rural regions across Asia and Africa," Ms Koch said. Ms Koch has commissioned paintings and sculptures made using animal dung to hang on the walls of the Pooseum. She has sourced artworks and sculptures from as far as the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany. A "highly detailed" artwork in cow dung and gold leaf by German artist Werner Härtl hangs on the wall of Pooseum. The artist began to create artworks from diluted dung when employed as a farm worker in 2012 and described it as an "extremely versatile" product. Artist Karen Lyttle had never created an artwork from animal poo prior to winning the inaugural poo-painting competition in 2024. Her piece, named Crap Wallpaper, shows three plump pademelons, their intestinal tracts and, appropriately, their droppings. "The whole pattern is based on eating and defecating," Lyttle said. Lyttle combined the grass-textured and cylindrical droppings of pademelons with PVA glue and water to create her paint. "It was a real learning curve … I tried different mixtures with it, like oil and all sorts of things," she said. Lyttle embraced the product's versatility and said working with pademelon poo quickly felt "totally natural". "The nutrients [from poo] go back into the ground … to help Australian farmlands … it's the whole cycle of life." This year's rules are stricter, and a theme has been introduced for the competition, which is open to Tasmanian-based artists only. Ms Koch said her expectations are "much higher" after a successful first year. In the 2024 competition there was no theme, but for the 2025 competition, Ms Koch said she selected portraiture as she loved painting portraits herself. Ahead of the competition, she commissioned a large portrait from Tasmanian-based portrait artist Ewen Welsh, who selected the person to be depicted. Welsh approached Bob Brown through Dr Brown's partner, Paul Thomas. According to Mr Welsh, the former politician, and environmentalist, "straight away said yes", but asked Welsh to wait to share the portrait until after the latest federal election. "Every stage I sent [him] an email and said, 'Is this OK? Do I have your permission?'" Welsh said. Ms Koch said she was "extremely proud" to display the portrait of Bob Brown. She is excited to see submissions for this year's competition. "I've always enjoyed doing things that haven't been done before," Ms Koch said. "Though primarily a science museum, the Pooseum balances education with humour, proving that even something as gross and messy as faeces can be a fascinating subject for learning."
