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GREENWORLDCONTENTS Our small green worlds 5 Joanna Bosse The artists Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler 11 Naomi Eller 15 Nicole Foreshew 19 Teelah George 23 Joiwind Lowe 27 James Morrison 31 Betty Muffler 35 Virtual tour of Greenworld 39 Biographies 40 List of works in the exhibition 445 OUR SMALL GREEN WORLDS Joanna Bosse The local park has emerged as a bastion of survival for city dwellers during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Melbourne, more than most cities globally, has experienced a prolonged period of physical and social constraint. With a daily freedom of 1-2 hours outdoors in the local neighbourhood, Melburnians have flocked to their green and open spaces in droves. Parks, beaches, ovals, river and creek trails, have given people critical relief from their anxieties and the intensity of their newly indoor lives. In some, there has been almost a spiritual awakening, whereby time spent outdoors has become the simple joy that guides their day. For those lucky enough to have backyards, they’ve become sites of microcosmic wonder, where sustained engagement has given rise to an appreciation of the subtle shifts and miraculous endeavours that occur in the minutiae of the natural world. A seasonal change which might normally be overlooked has been examined, celebrated and anticipated with ceremonial intent; the simple beauty of a blooming flower or the melody of a bird call has brought intense delight to those stuck in the seeming inertia of prolonged lockdown. Thousands of small and large processes take place outside our doorsteps, details that are often fascinating and beautiful; the pandemic has given us the gift of remembering how to recognise them. Devised prior to the coronavirus pandemic, Greenworld reflects on the role of the natural world in relation to human consciousness. It’s a timely theme given our symbiotic relationship with nature is increasingly distanced, and its benefits (and responsibilities) have become all too easily overshadowed by economic drivers. For centuries we’ve acted on an intuitive sense that we need communion with nature to feel well, and in recent times, countless studies that demonstrate nature’s positive impact on the human psyche are compelling. With well over half the world’s population living in urban environments, For those lucky enough to have backyards, they’ve become sites of microcosmic wonder6 Naomi Eller Imprints of memory 2015 lack of access to green space is a textiles by Teelah George evoke immaterial critical issue that has psychological and sensations while James Morrison’s richly physiological impacts. Urban planners, detailed symbolic paintings provide architects, epidemiologists recognise the a cornucopia of sensual delights. evidence that contact with green space has Naomi Eller and Joiwind Lowe bring us been found to be restorative; retaining and universal themes in works that draw cultivating green space within our cities is parallels between the physical and the seen as a key factor in sustaining healthy philosophical, and the guiding impulse communities. The pandemic has brought of the seasons. a new and meaningful relevancy to these There is much to grieve for in this present core ideas. moment. The daily gratitude many of Greenworld includes emerging and us have for the restorative power of established Australian artists whose works nature – even if our experience is brief reflect our engagement with elements of and commonplace – is important to nature in personal, spiritual, imaginative acknowledge. Side stepping the looming and conceptual ways. Painting, textiles, ecological tragedy of climate change, the sculpture, photography, clay and collage pandemic has increased the groundswell evoke the material diversity and the ever-of appreciation for the critical role nature evolving aesthetics found in the natural plays in wellbeing, and perhaps it is these world. Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler’s intimate revelations at a household scale striking suspended installation is a visual that will prove powerful. centrepoint, surrounded by the works of Indigenous artists Nicole Foreshew and Betty Muffler, whose creative practice embodies their deep spiritual connection to the land. The densely embroidered Next >