The Weight of Fallen Trees

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This research investigates the environmental effects of trees and their changing mobilities through climate change. It draws on the practices of Australian women environmental artists, including Janet Laurence, Julie Gough and Debbie Symons, whose works interrogate how the environment intersects with cultural and national identities. Employing phenomenological and ethics of care methodologies alongside photo documentary methods, the project situates environmental transformations within broader ecofeminist narratives in contemporary Australia.
The ongoing photographic series comprises more than 20 large scale works documenting the Macedon Ranges in Victoria. By focusing on the impacts of a singular, hyperlocal environmental event in regional Victoria, the series contributes to a growing global visual archive and artistic discourse on environmental change and shifting landscapes in the Anthropocene.
Key images from the series have been exhibited in prominent local and national contexts and published with an international audience. In 2022, one work ‘The Weight of Fallen Trees #2’ was selected as a finalist in the Northern Beaches Environmental Art and Design Award (NSW), with 212 finalists chosen from 640 artists. The image ‘Road Not Travelled’ was exhibited in Forest: The Last Stand at Climate Gallery (curated by Karena Goldfinch), and ‘The Weight of Fallen Trees #4’ was included in Invisible Winds at Climarte Gallery (co curated with Tammy Wong Hulbert and Marnie Badham). In 2026, the series, one image and accompanying creative research statement were selected for publication in The Encyclopedia of Mobilities (eds. Peter Adey, Weiqiang Lin and Kaya Barry, Edward Elgar Publishing), representing non human mobility, specifically immobility within a global context of creative works and critical writing.