Bagging Trevor

FOR weeks I kept seeing these triangular, Blair Witch looking, stick and rubbish sculptures dotted on the roadside around various parts of Darwin.

I’d not long been in Darwin when I asked one of my colleagues which animal was responsible for the nests.

That’s when I was introduced to the endangered species known as the Rubbish Warrior.

Local identity Trevor ‘Rubbish Warrior’ Jenkins, is perhaps best known for his stick and trash sculptures but also stood for Mayor at the last Darwin council election on the slogan of ‘ Vote 1: Homeless Bum’ and even made an appearance on Australia’s Got Talent where he built a rubbish sculpture and rapped about the motives behind his art.

He’s thought of by some, including himself, as the Territory’s greatest living artist.

Trevor recently told a court: “I’m one of the greatest artists and greatest thinkers in the Territory. I am. If you don’t like it, well shove it up your arse.”

To others, including Darwin council, he is nothing short of a nuisance.

His sense of entitlement, anti-conservative views and disregard for authority have seen him weave in and out of the justice system for several years.

This week the Nuisance side of Artist Vs Nuisance debate had a win when the Darwin Magistrates Court found him guilty of littering and fined him $100.

I’m sure Team Nuisance think it was worth spending thousands on pursuing the Rubbish Warrior through the courts to make a point but I bet you a $100 fine it won’t stop his sculptures.

I on the other hand don’t — I guess that makes me part of Team Artist. While I get that the council is just doing its job and in most cases is responding to complaints from residents I simply don’t understand why, as a society, we are so intent on giving the biggest sooks the hugs.

‘This offends me, it’s messy, it’s ugly, it’s dangerous, it’s against the rules, I don’t find that funny so you can’t either’.

In the Territory we love telling the rest of Australia that we do things our way, we’re proud of the fact we’re considered the last frontier in a lot of ways.

You wanna get pissed and set off fireworks into a baby’s pram at Mindil to celebrate being a Territorian? Go nuts.

You wanna drive as fast as you want on certain sections of the highway even though police have spent years and bucket loads of money telling us speed kills? Go nuts.

You wanna make sculptures out of palm fronds, goon sacks and the occasional dead rat? Don’t be ridiculous, that’s nuts.

Last year a member of our community wrote a letter to the NT News — I actually think he might be the president of Team Nuisance but I’m not sure.

“Enough is enough enough!” he wrote.

“I’ll admit that in the past I have tried to appeal to (the) ... bloke revered by some as the Rubbish Warrior to find some other activity that benefits our city.

“But now I have had enough of the mess, the clutter and disarray caused by this bloke whose strange belief is that he is artful and in some twisted way, contributing to the cleanliness and decoration is of our city and its streets.”

He expressed his concern for Darwin cyclists and motorists, fearing they could be impaled or speared “as it flies around in gale-force winds”.

Without even Googling it I can tell you not one cyclist was killed in the past 10 years in Darwin because they were impaled by a palm frond, stick, goon bag or dead rat that was flying through the air in gale force winds.

What if someone is riding along and swerves to avoid rock and goes flying — shall we ban all rocks?

Why don’t we just go one better and ban all the bikes.

Then all of the cars because they kill too many people, too.

Then we can just keep banning until we all think the same, all find the same things beautiful and anyone who dares not toe the line disappears quicker than one of Kim Jong-un’s ex-girlfriends.

I’ve heard loads of bullshit reasons from loads of different people on why they don’t like the sculptures but what it comes down to is an intolerance for things that are ‘different’ or ‘annoying’.

But if someone not living their life ‘properly’ is such an affront to you, I reckon you’ve got loads more important things to think about than whether a homeless guy should be allowed to make sculptures out of rubbish on the footpath.

“But if someone not living their life ‘properly’ is such an affront to you, I reckon you’ve got loads more important things to think about “