Vegetal Voices: Learning through Making with Trees and Humans

Abstract

This project presents an approach that seeks to empower voices of trees through an innovative use of spatial data. To engage with this challenge, we focus on a tree that lives in the south of Australia, near Narrm (Melbourne). This tree retains the marks left by the ancestors of the Kulin Nations who used its bark to make useful objects. Plants, particularly trees, can care for themselves while helping other living beings. Their vegetal contributions are necessary for the survival of all complex lifeforms. Yet, no combination of human knowledges can fully understand, replicate, or replace the spectrum of support that plants offer. Human biases prioritise human needs over other forms of life..