If Trees could talk

Latest Project update

It all started when…

I began to wonder about the stories trees could tell us, from their years as silent witness. The people, places and events that have occurred under and around their branches.

In recent times I have ventured to the Coorong in South Australia, to Takayna in North Western Tasmania, country Victoria, the Snowy Mountains, Murray River, Melbourne, Sydney, Stradbroke Island, the Barrier Reef, the Great Sandy Strait, Paris, rural France, San Sebastian and Singapore. Everywhere I go I seem to collect stories about trees.

Staying in Sydney with friends in Waterloo and Redfern I wondered what these now urban spaces looked like before white settlement and the trees in Redfern Park, what changes have they seen?

Across the road from where I grew up in Cheltenham NSW, Marie Byles created her bush sanctuary AHIMSA now owned by the National Trust. I spent time at her Hut of Happy Omen drawing the angophora that seemed to have formed a trilogy around her. I have delved deep into her archives in the Mitchell Library and searched for books about and by her wanting to learn more about this courageous woman.

In Poona a much loved mighty fig is guardian to the sandy strait and Kgari across the waters. On Lady Elliott Island, now resplendent with bird and sea life attracted to the revegetation that has been ongoing since the late 1960s, there still stands a ring of Pisonia trees left when the rest of the island was completely cleared of all vegetation for Guano Mining in the 1800s.

From the Murray Gates in the Snowy Mountains, through NSW, Victoria and South Australia I am entranced by the River Red gums. In St Kilda Melbourne next to a busy Highway is the Corroboree Tree another River Red gum, believed to be 300-500 years old and significant to the First Nations peoples for the Corroborees that were held beneath its branches. On Stradbroke Island the Tea Trees, Scribbly Gums, Wattles and Banksias. Along the waterways where we take our kayaks the Mangroves hold fort , providing shelter and sanctuary. So many stories.

On recent overseas travels in Paris , the trees of the in the grounds of the Hotel De Sully built in the 1600s , the Square Du Temple ( set aside for the Knights Templar in 1300’s) and the abandoned Château de Fayolle (Tocane-Saint-Apre) built in the 1200s; the oaks, the cedars and elms all inspire stories of battles, kings, empires and revolution. Along country lanes the Walnuts, Hawthorn, Hornbeam, Honey Locusts and hedgerows overgrow ruins. Conversely in Singapore we travel to a tropical island, Pulau Ubin, between Singapore and Malaysia which has been preserved as a heritage site and boasts Kapok, Jackfruit, mangroves, Nipah and bottle palms, towering Pulai, Tamarind a reminder of how Singapore would once have been.

So I am developing If Trees Could Talk as a project that will celebrate many trees and stories of protest, love, loss, endeavour, ritual, honour and tragedy. It will combine large scale artworks, projections, artist books, workshops and more. It will involve being an Artist in Residence in many locations as I dig deep into the stories that only trees can tell.