In 2023, our second BETTER NATURE exhibition is Earthen.

Our earliest stories are of the transfiguration of humans from earth, dirt animated into a body, clay moulded into a face and dust breathed into a soul. The very material of the planet was reshaped into our form, or rather, we were shaped from it. From these earthly origins, humanity has become a geological force in its own right, transforming the planet materially deep within every layer of sediment, strata and soil under our feet.

Situated against this current geological era, the Anthropocene, Earthen reflects on humanity’s fundamental and entangled relationship with earth. Earthen brings together creative practice from across Australia with works by Isadora Vaughan, Shan Turner-Carroll, Kien Situ, Kirra Weingarth, and Open Spatial Workshop (Terri Bird, Bianca Hester and Scott Mitchell). Here, a ‘compost’ of ideas is formed, exploring earth as a living and generative co-entity, alive with agency and capable of exchange and communication.

Descending into the sediment, Earthen draws out the rich inter-relationships – between, among, together, of the ever-turning matter we stand upon. What surfaces is a network of hidden methodologies, systems and scales; decay and rebirth, exchange, fermentation, extraction and slowed time. These ecological modes are mirrored in the fibres of the exhibition engaging artistic processes that transform, transmute, impress and uncover dialogue.