Between Art and Poetry: New Perspectives on Tablelands Flora

Abstract

Between Art and Poetry is a collaboration between botanical writer John Charles Ryan and botanical artist David Mackay on the diversity and beauty of the natural environments and, in particular, the flora of the New England Tablelands. Held at Reader's Companion in Armidale in November 2017, the main event included a reading of poetry, an art exhibition, brief talks by John and David, a musical performance by Alana Blackburn and the launch of two books, The Language of Plants and Plants in Contemporary Poetry. The goal of Between Art and Poetry is to foster greater dialogue between the arts and sciences. The project aims to improve communication and enhance mutual understanding between the visual and literary arts, on the one hand, and between the arts and environmental science, on the other. The general purpose of the collaboration is to raise public awareness of the diversity and fragile beauty of the natural environments that surround us in the New England region. The art-science collaboration centred on six plant species of the New England Tablelands: Antarctic beech (Nothofagus moorei), southern giant stinging tree (Dendrocnide excelsa), Ingram's wattle (Acacia ingramii) , rock orchid (Dendrobium speciosum), river sheoak (Casuarina cunninghamiana) and Port Jackson fig (Ficus rubiginosa). While some species, such as Ingram's wattle, are highly localised endemics, others - for instance, river sheoak - are distributed more broadly across the Tablelands, coastal eastern Australia and, indeed, other parts of the globe.