Forests of Care and Other Studies brings together painting and textile works developed through repeated engagement within forest landscapes. The exhibition moves between the protected Forest of Fontainebleau, France, and the planting of a new forest on degraded farmland in Northern NSW, exploring restorative narratives through embodied acts of learning and care.
Located 40 kilometres from Paris, La ForĂȘt de Fontainebleau became one of the earliest protected forest reserves in the world following nineteenth-century advocacy by painters and writers against industrial logging. Continuing this legacy of commitment to site-responsiveness and environmental stewardship, the exhibition reflects on how we engage with landscape over time. The figure enters the work as part of the living ecology of the forest, suggesting fluid relations between body and environment.
