Animal Dung as Canvas Sparks Conversation and Cultural Change in Tasmania

29 June 2025

Werner Härtl’s painting of the restaurant Voitlhof 1532 in Rottach-Egern was painted with cow poo. Photograph: Karin Koch/Pooseum

In the heart of Tasmania, art and science have collided in an unlikely masterpiece of provocation and purpose: the Poo‑tastic Paint Off, a competition that challenges artists to craft expressive portraits using animal dung, and in doing so shatter persistent taboos around bowel health and the body. Founded by Karin Koch, whose own experience losing a friend to bowel cancer propelled her mission, the annual event is held at Richmond’s Pooseum, a serious science museum devoted entirely to animal feces. The competition invites participants aged 16 and over to create faces rendered in dung sourced from wombats, pademelons, cows and other local wildlife, with winning pieces displayed at the Pooseum and prizes awarded to spur engagement.

The Pooseum’s journey began in 2018, born from an uncomfortable silence. After her friend ignored alarming symptoms out of modesty around bowel issues, Koch chose a path of disruption through education. The Pooseum itself is a portal into the biological lifecycle, ecological significance, and even creative potential of dung, a subject rarely considered with curiosity, and often dismissed as shameful. By inviting artists to paint in poo, she is reframing moving stools from embarrassment to empowerment .

Building on its inaugural year in 2024, which featured over 60 entries and awarded first prize to Karen Lyttle for a pademelon‑poo portrait titled “Crap Wallpaper,” the competition returned in 2025 with renewed ambition. This year’s theme, Expressive Portraits: Faces with Faeces, demands participants use poop exclusively as pigment and submit their work alongside a video documenting their process, a written artist statement, and high‑resolution imagery demonstrating a remarkable blend of scientific rigor and artistic expression.

Among the early works unveiled was a poignant portrait of environmentalist Bob Brown, painted in pademelon dung by artist Ewen Welsh. The subject’s consent and involvement highlight the careful blending of art and ethics that underpins the event. Other standout submissions include wombat portraits, kookaburra images, and even scenes of the Milky Way all rendered with sepia hues preserved by the natural pigments of animal droppings.

Organisers reinforced that this competition is not a gimmick. Entry is free, but the standards are serious. Artists are evaluated on technical fidelity, emotional resonance, creative innovation, and thematic clarity. This isn’t about shock value, it’s about rethinking our relationship with foundational elements of ecology, health, and culture. The public display of these works between late November and December 7 offers a rare chance to engage with unconventional materials and narratives. Winners will be named on December 8 and given permanent display at the museum, reinforcing that dung can hold both material and muse .

Critics of the unconventional medium, discomforted by the idea of art made from excrement are met with Koch’s resolute stance. She frames the project as a serious approach to health and hygiene, designed to initiate conversations about a biological process that sustains ecosystems and human well‑being alike. She argues that confronting the subject head‑on helps dismantle embarrassment and makes space for essential discussions about early detection of diseases like bowel cancer .

Meanwhile, local communities have embraced the contest not just as a novelty, but as a celebration of ecological cycles and artistic courage. Entries from regional artists reflect that community pride and ecological literacy can emerge from unexpected places. By tapping into local fauna and natural landscapes, the competition bridges biology, art, and identity in a distinctly Tasmanian tableau.

Perhaps most significantly, the Poo‑tastic Paint Off does what few exhibitions can: it evokes laughter and wonder at the same time. It uses humor to disarm judgment and curiosity to invite reflection. It replaces disdain with dialogue. It replaces invisibility with visibility. And above all, it turns repulsion into reflection, a powerful recipe for meaningful cultural shift.

By holding these contests annually and tying them to public health narratives, the Pooseum is advancing a model of art as activism and education. The museum leverages its unique niche to address universal subjects: life, death, digestion, and creativity. In doing so, it cements its role not just as a repository of curiosities, but as an incubator for transformative conversation.

In a world that often ignores the fundamentals of digestion and decay, Tasmania’s dung portrait competition declares boldly that all parts of life are worth looking at, learning from, and celebrating. With every brushstroke of dung, artists are painting outside the lines of tradition and helping us rewrite what counts as worthy subject matter in both art and health.