Instantly Installation

Queenscliff-based artist, Lauren Esplin put forth her idea to create a mural using colourful plastic bottle tops to depict the word “Instantly” written in the iconic Copperplate script used by Sydney’s very own Arthur Stace, the legendary Mr Eternity. 

From 1932 to 1967, Stace scrolled the word Eternity with chalk on footpaths in and around Sydney. He gained fame as a reformed alcoholic who converted to Christianity and was obsessed with the idea of where one would spend eternity. Ms Esplin has always been intrigued by Stace’s story and his message of Eternity.

Lauren's idea was to highlight the irony of using chalk, a substance easily washed away, to write the word Eternity, compared with using plastic, a material that can take over 450 years to decompose, to depict the word Instantly. “It struck me that some fifty years on from Stace’s death, our society seems enamoured with exactly the opposite to Eternity, Instantly. Food and drink in an instant, fashion in an instant, communication in an instant”, 

The Collective put a call-out to its artists for ideas for an installation in the front window of the gallery. Over the next four months, the installation came to together through the donation of thousands of plastic bottle-top lids from the community and the help of dedicated Art and Soul Collective members.

The message. Are we losing sight of the big picture as we speed through this world faster than ever before?
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Check-out the installation at the Art & Soul Gallery at 559 Sydney Road Seaforth open between 10am and 4pm Wednesday to Saturday and 10am to 1pm on Sunday.

Fiona, Lauren and Liz proudly holding up the finished work ready for installation.

Thousands of plastic bottle-top lids were collected, sorted, placed and then glued to create the final installation, pictured here on display front window of the Art & Soul Collective Gallery.