Please note that the Fragile Earth: Extinction in Conversation event has been moved to an online-only event. More information can be found here.
This weekend, (July 30-31), the Gippsland Art Gallery will host the Fragile Earth: Extinction in Conversation symposium as part of the Fragile Earth: Extinction Exhibition.
In a special addition to the Fragile Earth: Extinction Exhibition, showing at the Gippsland Art Gallery until August 28, experts, scientists and artists from across the country will come together for a weekend-long symposium to discuss the critical state of the environment, and how to cultivate responsibility for ecological practices.
The Fragile Earth: Extinction symposium will begin at 10.30am with a panel discussion from Fragile Earth: Extinction artists led by Associate Professor of Art, Environment and Cultural Studies at RMIT University in Melbourne, Linda Williams.
Professor Williams’ expertise in the interdisciplinary field of environmental humanities, studies in human-animal relations, contemporary issues of climate change, and mass species extinction, has seen her deliver many keynote lectures and publish numerous research papers across Australia, England, Ireland, the United States, Japan, China and New Zealand.
Australian National University Professor David Lindenmayer is next to follow, presenting his keynote lecture, ‘The Great Forest’.
Professor Lindenmayer is a world-leading expert in forest ecology and resource management, conservation science, and biodiversity conservation, and currently runs five large-scale, long-term research programs in south-eastern Australia, primarily associated with developing ways to conserve biodiversity in farmland, wood production forests, plantations, and reserves.
Saturday’s Fragile Earth: Extinction symposium will conclude at 4:30pm, following a panel discussion from Art & Ecologies Research Network (AEGIS) led by Associate Professor Linda Williams, Doctor Harry Nankin and artist Debbie Symons.
CARE; Concerned Artists Resisting Extinction coordinator Dawns Stubbs and Leadbeater’s Possum Inc president, Steve Meacher, will start the second day of the Fragile Earth: Extinction symposium.
Ms Stubbs believes the timing for the Fragile Earth: Extinction symposium couldn’t be more crucial.
“It will give the public a better understanding of what has been happening under our noses,” she said.
“It has been overdue for real leadership from the power-brokers of this country to take real action about the destruction of our very life support system.
“Governments have shirked their duty of care towards species loss for so many years now; it’s hard to see what native wildlife is left.”
Since the previous State of the Environment Report, released in 2016, 17 mammals, 17 birds, and 19 species of frogs have been added to the endangered list or upgraded to critically endangered.
The Fragile Earth: Extinction symposium this weekend offers the Sale and surrounding community the opportunity to engage with those at the front line of climate action, and who have dedicated their life’s work to preserving the earth we live in.
Bookings for the Fragile Earth: Extinction symposium are essential.
To book your place or to find out more, click here.
