This weekend's expected pelting rain is wonderful for the garden but not so great for the South Coast, which may be in for more flooding, after already enduring a summer of bushfires.
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It's probably difficult to imagine now, but something beautiful could soon be created in the aftermath of all these natural disasters.
A new musical and artistic project called Another Future, in part inspired by the impact of unchecked climate change, is looking to use items from people's homes, including those salvaged from disasters such as floods, fires, hailstorms, in a unique way.
Award-winning composer Eve Klein, whose own home in Brisbane was flooded late last year, hopes to use the items to create music.
"What makes this project so exciting is that the donated objects will be played, literally, as percussion instruments in the musical performance," Eve said.
"This is such an innovative way to showcase these adored items. Examples may include the house keys, a pressed leaf or a mere coin.
"In addition, we will want to hear of the stories surrounding those salvaged keepsakes. We want to know their specific meaning to the owners."
Eve is collaborating with author Elaine Kelly who wrote Dwelling in the Age of Climate and the Sydney-based Ensemble Offspring for an art exhibition and musical composition.
She wants items to come from all over Australia - from fluffy toys and family photo albums to garden statues and house keys.
And there is no time limit, so it could be something from last summer's fires to the 2003 firestorm that hit Canberra. She is after objects which "remind people of home or homes they have lost or homes they have left behind".
"I like to make work that invites people to have conversations about their lives and things that are sometimes hard to discuss online or in public forums," Eve said on Friday.
"So, using this idea having an object that reminds you of home, it could be anything, it could be a toy you've kept from your childhood or a rock you've picked up from the ground where you like to walk close to your home, opens up this conversation of what home means to people.
"I'm really interested to see how do Australians consider home and what we're worried about happening to our homes in the future, especially in relation to climate change. There are so many challenges in Australia, from fires and floods and droughts.
"There's a lot at stake for people in their everyday lives."
Eve's own life was upturned in a freak storm on December 11 last year when her Brisbane home was flooded.
"There were thousands of homes in south-east Queensland affected but because the bushfires were on, no one paid any attention," she said, being able to laugh about it now.
Her suburban Queenslander was severely damaged and is still under reconstruction.
Her studio, including musical instruments or equipment she'd been collecting her whole career, was "sodden". The most precious item lost was a 1959 Broadwood grand piano she called Hadrian.
Hairline fractures were found throughout the instrument. Her insurance company deemed it unsalvageable. The usual process was to send a wrecking crew to demolish the piano and take it away.
"They were nice guys who joked and smiled while smashing Hadrian to bits with a hammer, crowbars and wire cutters," Eve wrote in her blog at the time.
"They told us they'd done this previously with pianos burnt in fires. Forty excruciating minutes later, they left with the pieces of my beloved piano. We are still finding remnants of the strings, cut off one by one, on the ground outside."
Eve said the worst didn't happen in the flood, she and her family were safe. But a loss was definitely felt.
"It's difficult to describe the ongoing, daily stress of managing all of the extra work that has been created by the insurance and rectification processes. Or the grief of losing things which you have held precious- seeing your memories and family history piled into a skip as literal garbage and a dollar value added to an itemised spreadsheet. Or the ongoing disruption of always having people in your house," she wrote.
And now she wants to hear other stories.
"I'm interested to hear from people who might have had the same experience as me or perhaps people who've lived in the same house for 20 years or their family has lived there for 80 years and what their connection is to their home," she said.
Twelve people will be interviewed for the exhibition which is expected to be shown online from April at zeitge-ist.com.
"We're going to be presenting an exhibition of the objects people send us, either digital images or the objects themselves," she said.
"We're interviewing about 12 people in-depth about their stories and using those documentaries to make the musical composition. And Claire Edwards, the percussionist in Spring Ensemble, is actually going to play the items as part of the work."
The exhibition is hoped to tour, depending on COVID-19 restrictions.
- If you would like to participate, go to eveklein.com/about-future .