Artist Elise Romaszko is challenging the concept of what beauty is, through a dance piece using costumes and props that are all made from recycled materials.
Her work, The Beauty Project, is being staged as part of Tasmania's Ten Days on the Island arts festival and is described as a pop-up, experimental catwalk-meets-podcast-meets picnic.
Romaszko, who is making her directorial debut, has spent the last few years investigating ideas about beauty through community workshops, site-specific explorations and public engagement.
"Watching and learning and growing, because beauty is about that," she said.
"It's challenging but it's so fun in the process.
"It's strong, it's meaningful, it crosses nature and fashion."
Part of the preparation was interviewing people in the street about how they perceived beauty and challenging the cliches around it.
"I remember the first time we went to the mall, people were giving her the answers that they thought she wanted like 'beauty is on the inside'," Second Echo Ensemble creative director Kelly Drummond Cawthon said.
"So she changed the questions to 'What is your most beautiful thing? Where are you beautiful?' and suddenly people couldn't answer the question.
"They weren't just being polite and that's where we really got to the heart of it.
"Our discomfort with feeling and honouring beauty and owning it is really challenging."
The Beauty Project does not fit into a specific genre.
"Right now in our world people think boxes exist to tick them," Drummond Cawthon said.
"We think they're there to deconstruct and show edges that we can be on the outside of and that you can build to get you somewhere else.
"The sheer joy of following Elise on her journey and her curiosity and her interests and her absolute determination to challenge what beauty means."
The Beauty Project is being performed at the Railway Roundabout in Hobart and set outside so audiences can connect with the natural beauty in themselves and their environment.
"I'm compassionate about the environment, I'm trying to protect the environment, so with the costumes, for example, I'm trying to recycle and reuse every single thing," Romaszko said.
"The more I watch and see what they [the performers] do with the costumes and dance with them, it's very strong and it's really creative."
The Beauty Project is being held as part of the Ten Days on the Island festival in Hobart and in Wynyard in the state's north west.
