Remains of the Day investigates the waste found in recycling yards and landfill, the remains of our consumer culture. These vast "non-places" are unseen, on the edge of our cities, but we are involved with them on a daily basis through the products we consume and discard.

Each photograph focuses on a different type of rubbish. Close-ups of TVs, bottles, mattresses and wires focus on their patterns and colours and are disturbing, intriguing and even beautiful. By inverting the photos, the negative side or consequence of consumerism is emphasised. As an x-ray points out the weakness or disease in our body, so these photos expose our waste as being a shameful side of our lifestyle. The images are printed on metallic paper, used in high-end advertising.

At The Photography Room, Old Bus Depot, Kingston Foreshore, until November 19.

Entangled Mysteries is a new body of three-dimensional textile works and drawings by Sally Blake. The works reference author Craig San Roque's story, The Kore Story/Pesephone's Dog, and the ancient Greek myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. These stories teach us about cyclic patterns of decay and renewal and seasonal changes. This exhibition focuses on the time Persephone spends underground, where she can learn to understand how the world works and how plants grow from below. Using contemporary basketry practices and paper-based media, the artist creates an underground world which harbours the potential for renewal and new life in the darkness.

Opening at M16 Artspace, Griffith, on October 19, until November 5.

Also opening are Drawing Company featuring Talei Emberson, Dimity Kidston, Valerie Kirk, Suzanne Knight, Sharon Peoples, Annie Trevillian who explore the relationship between drawing, textiles and comfort; and Infrastructure from Christopher Oates, featuring landscapes of contemporary Canberra.

Salvatore Zofrea is a sumptuous colourist who has documented Australian flora and landscapes with remarkable focus and attention to detail. His lyrical and exuberant compositions testify to the amazing diversity of native plants in the Australian bush. Zofrea was born in Italy in 1946 and moved to Australia not long after, later studying at the Julian Ashton Art School. He won the Sulman Prize in 1977 and again in 1979 and 1982.

A constant reference point in his work is nature's bounty, through years of observation and appreciation of the bushland of the Blue Mountains, where he lives and works.

At Nancy Sever Gallery, Kingston, opening October 18 until November 12.

A dozen local schools are participating in Come Alive 17!, an annual festival of theatre inspired by Canberra's cultural institutions.

Schools involved include: Orana Steiner School, Marist College, Canberra College Dance, St Edmund's College, Telopea School, Brindabella Christian School, Radford College, St Francis Xavier College, Gungahlin College, Drama Stars Academy, Lake Tuggeranong College and Batemans Bay High School.

Schools have been invited to create an original piece of theatre, inspired by one or more stories or exhibits in the host cultural institutions. In the past, these have included the National Museum of Australia, Questacon, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery of Australia, the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House and the National Library of Australia.

Highlights this year include Canberra College Dance's Ethos, inspired by the statue of Ethos outside the ACT Legislative Assembly and Telopea School's The O'Brians, inspired by the O'Brians Hairdresser and Sports Store exhibit at CMAG.

Schools will present a matinee performance and an evening performance over the six days of the festival. The cost of entry is free to school groups and the general public at each day's matinee performance and a ticket price of $10 plus the booking fee of $4.95 for the 6pm performance and the Saturday performances at 11am and 1pm.

In the Canberra Theatre Centre's Courtyard Studio from October 23-28.