Dialogues
Welcome to Nature-Human Dialogues, an interactive exhibition exploring nonhuman perspectives through creative storytelling — based on real plants, animals, and objects across the University of Melbourne Parkville Campus.
Over the course of semester 1 (3 March 2025 – 1 June 2025), we invite to you read their stories and to respond to the objects or their authors directly.
CURATOR’S STATEMENT
There will forever be knowledge in the plants, the animals, and the objects with whom we share our favourite places.
Knowledge that opens our eyes to our vibrant neighbours.
In this year’s inaugural Nature-Human Dialogues exhibition, words emerge from objects typically cast as inert, animals competing for places to live, and plants confined to pots and concrete. They speak with their own grammar and syntax, eager to resist human-defined standards of language.
One thing’s for sure, their words have power, and they’re waiting to hear what you have to say in return.
A huge thank you to the authors featured in this year’s exhibition. I hope this project provides a space for you to reimagine your relationship with the various elements of nature with whom you share the University of Parkville Campus — and maybe even discover new ways to treat them.
Frankey Chung-Kok-Lun
READ AND REPLY TO THE STORIES BELOW
a lawn isn’t a lawn until it’s a sit in
– A poem from South Lawn by Tim Loveday
true reward
– A story from the Anthography of the Eucalypts by Wilfrid Russell Grimwade by Miriam Webster
– A story from the Atlantes statues by Dr Rachel Hennessy
IT IS NOT HARD TO TOUCH A FACE
– A poem from a Eucalyptus scoparia by Alisha Brown
– A story from the Community Garden by Adele Roeder
FOUR BLINDS IN THE JOHN MEDLEY BUILDING
– A poem from the Four Blinds in the John Medley Building by Natalie Bühler
– A story from a magpie outside the Melbourne School of Design by Wen Yee Ang
THE MYSTERY OF THE TRAM STOP DISHES
– A story from Tram Stop #13 — Gatehouse Street by Xiaole Zhan (詹小乐)
– A story from a common brushtail possum by Sujita Dhakal
– A story from a plant canopy of English ivy by Antje Jacobs
Skull of unknown Leontiasis Ossea sufferer; Harry Brookes Allen Museum
– A story from bones by Pamela Swanborough
– A story from a ceiling light in the Baillieu Library by Desirel Ng
– A story from a Malus Floribunda (removed) from Cussonia Court by Monique de Leeuw
– A story from a Zamioculcas zamiifolia (ZZ plant) by Angela Costi
– A story from Platinus x acerifolia by Eymi Gladys Carcamo Rodriquez
– A poem from a crack willow by Maja Amanita
A REPRIEVE FROM SECRET KEEPING
– A story from a sundial by Misa Ngan
– A story from the Old Arts Clock Tower by Sean Francis Walsh
– A story from a rat trap by Claire Le Blond
