International Art Collaboration

2023 is providing me with time to reflect on some of the fantastic collaborative projects I have been involved with over the last couple of years that I haven’t shared.

withnature2020 was conceived in the Autumn of 2018, as a response to the extinction crisis.   It was an international collaborative art event, prompted by the shock of realizing the rate at which we have been losing biomass (animals, plants and insects) and how many species have come to be threatened with extinction in the course of our own lifetime.

Artist Shona Wilson reached out to me at the Manning Regional Art Gallery to see if we would like to be involved. Of course, our instant response was yes, but as we learned the logistics and scale of the project, we knew we were going to need a much bigger working party.

So Midcoast Council’s Natural Systems Team, the Manning River Turtle Group and Aussie Ark came on board.

The original idea of withNature2020 was to create a series of giant images of critically endangered species across the world in one day, using human beings to form the images.

But, the Covid-19 pandemic hit….the event was postponed, and the logistics of social distancing meant the idea of assembling humans close together had to be reconsidered.

While some groups in different parts of the world chose to make their images from recycled fabric and donated clothing, we decided to involve community.

The Manning River Helmeted Turtle was chosen as our endangered animal and 2000 participants from 26 schools and organisations across the region wove small turtles using paddle pop sticks and wool.

An outline of a giant helmeted turtle was mapped out on the banks of the Manning River at Tinonee and the 2000 small turtles were laid out in their colour sections to form the giant turtle.

Nick Day from MidCoast Council recorded drone footage of the process.

Aleisha Madden from the Natural Systems Team and myself share how the individual turtles were made and a little bit about the project.

Check out the withNature2020 site to see our Helmeted Turtle with the other endangered species from different parts of the world.