The Grassening fills the Servo with art, nature and awe
The event took an immersive, nature-based, multi-artform installation to a whole new level
There's something awe-inspiring about seeing a strong and growing connection between our natural and built environment. Rarely has this been better demonstrated than in The Grassening, which in September transformed the NASA Gallery at The Servo, Port Kembla, into an immersive multi-artform installation.
The aim was to centre and celebrate the critically endangered Illawarra Lowland Grassy Woodland on Dharawal Wadi Wadi Country, and demonstrate how the community can be supported with intentional planting across private and public landscapes.
All the plants have now been planted across the Illawarra, helping to reconnect and strengthen the grassy woodland.
The Servo installation, led by landscape architect Kathryn Morgan, was a collaboration between artists, ecologists and more-than-human actors, working across sound, image, installation and drawing.
Photos by Allison Mellor
Multidisciplinary artist Nicole Smede mixed electrical signals of native trees, shrubs, and grasses to create a live landscape.
Alex Pike's video and photography flickered through the plants and across the walls, while artist Penny Sadubin's sweeping hand-made charcoal wall drawings further thickened the woodland experience.
Kath Gadd and Emma Rooksby co-led plant curation, architect Eliza Maartensz designed the catalogue, which includes an interactive countermap of grassy woodlands across the region, with assistance from Katrin Plogstert, Leon Fuller and many others.
From the catalogue of The Grassening: Critical mapping by Eliza Martinez
Emma Rooksby and Brooke Dwyer grew some of the plants, with others drawn from Wollongong Botanic Garden and other nurseries.
"The work formed a shimmering evocation of the grassland," said Kathryn Morgan, "a biome profoundly altered by more than two centuries of colonial impact; forestry, agriculture and urban sprawl."
Kathryn said audiences "stepped into a living, breathing presence: plant voices woven into sound, shifting in response to light, water, and people moving among them.
"The soundscape mingled with field recordings from Country – bird calls, wind, insect hums, and resonant vocals – tuned to the natural frequency of the Earth."
Each individual encounter was an opportunity for community building between human, plant and place. There was no better example than when Russell Webster played an evening set, as Alex's close up videos including local crays, turtles, cockatoos and bats filled the space, gigantuan in proportion to the human audience who sat nestled amidst the grasses.
A huge success, The Grassening was experienced by more than 650 people across the two-day festival.
"Visitors expressed wonder at the beauty of the plants and a strong desire to see species from the Illawarra Lowland Grassy Woodlands return to gardens, schools, and streetscapes across the region," Kathryn said.
"Many described the experience as surprising and delightful, sparking conversations about ecological restoration and the role of art in reimagining future for endangered landscapes.
"Plants assembled at The Grassening have found homes to flourish at Bundanon Art Museum, the Homeless Hub Depot in Unanderra, Kath and Emma revegetating a verge in Corrimal, Illawarra Aboriginal Corporation including a potting workshop with Elders, and a planting day with kids at Noogaleek preschool."
Kathryn is also trialling an urban meadow plot at the Wollongong Cemetery.
"With less than 0.5% of this ecological community remaining, The Grassening invited people into relationship – to hear, to feel, and to carry the memory of the grassland beyond the gallery walls," Kathryn said.
The festival was coordinated by the Illawarra Ecosystem and Threatened Species Team, and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water.
"The team expresses thanks for the support of James Spinks at The Servo and, of course, to unceded Dharawal Wadi Wadi Country for its ancient and ongoing knowledge, generosity and beauty," Kathryn said.
Anyone wanting more information about The Grassening and its afterlife, contact kathryn@understorey.com.au.
For information on the plants featured in the installation click here.
