Media release – Bob Brown Foundation, 7 April 2023
Threatened takayna hosts Australia’s largest art activism event
Art for takayna, an immersive field trip for artists into one of the world’s last wild places is underway in Tasmania’s northwest. For the seventh year, 100 artists will visit takayna’s threatened World Heritage value rainforests, wet eucalypt forests, wild coast and heathlands to both capture its beauty and share it with the wider world.
“Australia’s largest art activism event, Art for takayna, will locate artists at six locations across takayna showcasing it’s diverse and threatened landscapes. Our annual art event is an important way for us to partner with artists in our campaign to see takayna protected. Out of this event we have now held exhibitions, made films, hosted music, theatre and dance performances all over the country showing Australians what it at threat and why takayna needs protection”, said Bob Brown Foundation takayna Campaigner Scott Jordan.
“In 2023, we have artists from across Australia visiting takayna with us. This year and over the previous years, dancers and musicians, jewellery makers and sculptors, painters, filmmakers and photographers are as diverse and inspiring as the landscape we celebrate,” Scott Jordan said.
takayna / Tarkine is an area of half a million hectares in north western Tasmania containing ancient Aboriginal heritage, wild coastal dunes, extensive heathlands and Australia’s largest remaining temperate rainforest. It is home to over 60 species of threatened and endangered species including Tasmanian masked owl, wedge-tailed eagle and Tasmanian devil. It has been assessed as having both national and World Heritage values, yet unfortunately remains largely unprotected and threated by logging, mining and a proposed toxic tailings waste dump.
“The stunning images and artworks created during, and inspired by, field trips into takayna, are awakening the world to the fragile beauty of this ancient landscape and the triple threats of logging, mining and off-road vehicles destroying the World Heritage values of this wild place.
“Also over Easter, our Art for takayna exhibition is at Salamanca Arts Centre’s Long Gallery where 43 artists from 2022 takayna field trip show the stunning landscapes, unique wildlife and threatened status of Tasmania’s takayna / Tarkine,” Scott Jordan said.
