Poop art: animal dung painting competition seeks to break taboo of talking about poo | Tasmania

Karin Koch was inspired to start the world’s first animal poop -painting contest after purchasing a large and extremely detailed painting created by the German artist Werner Härttl.

Koch then appointed Tasmanian artist Mel Hills to paint Wombbats using a Pademelon with Pademelon Poo collected from the Wombat poop and the garden.

Koch said, “All three paintings are exhibited in Pooseum, so it was the next logical step to make a poop painting contest,” he said.

The competition, which started in 2024, is managed by Koch, who founded Poeum, a scientific museum dedicated to the world of interesting animal feces in 2018.

The idea of ​​opening a museum about feces came to Koch, who was in sixties after a close friend died of bowel cancer in 2016.

“He noticed blood in his feces for two years, but he hadn’t told anyone,” he said. “In his generation, Tabu and this silence unfortunately cost him his life.”

To break this taboo and to raise awareness about intestinal cancer, Koch wanted to create an exhibition that initially focused on human feces. However, the focus changed after moving to Tasmania to enjoy the fresh air of the island and endless bush.

Koch, although it is a scientific issue surrounded by nature and surrounded by animal feces everywhere, I noticed that no one has dedicated a museum to animal feces, ”he said.

“That’s why I decided to continue and open Pooseum.”

PO-Tastic Tazmanya Paint Off Competition is open to amateur and professional artists, but all poop painters should be at least 16 to collect and manage animal feces.

The theme of this year’s competition is impressive portraits: feces faces.

“While choosing a topic for portrait paintings, artists should choose someone they know well or admire,” Koch said.

Although it is an animal faeces environment, Koch said it was a serious art competition.

When sent, artists should include artists, a written explanation, a short biography of the artist, a high -resolution head kick, and a video showing that the artist creates paintings.

Contestors can send up to two works of art and do not have a registration fee.

For those who are lucky enough to win in the first, second or third place, art works will be exhibited at Pooseum in Richmond, a small town of about 900 people just north of Hobart.

The winners will be announced on 8 December.