“Tree Stories” by Stephanie Radok

A contemporary art exhibition at Urrbrae House.

The exhibition is open free to the public from the 7 – 29 August 2023: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 11am – 3pm, and Sunday from 1pm – 4pm.

This exhibition is part of the South Australian Living Artists (SALA) Festival 2023 and has received support from Urrbrae House at the University of Adelaide and the City of Mitcham.

From the artist

The exhibition Tree Stories responds to the Waite Arboretum. Many people living in Adelaide have stories about it. It is an experience with many layers. What starts as a green blur seen from Cross Road or Fullarton Road becomes the marvellous avenue of sugar gums which in their robustness seem to represent the continuity of the old stories and the old ways of Indigenous First Nations peoples.

Then walking amongst the trees from all over Australia and the world reveals many benches with plaques commemorating scientists, workers and tree-related visionaries. Next you notice the labels hanging on the trees with their origin stories which make this one space into a sample of the whole world – a cosmopolitan place in a suburb. Then you start listening to the trees themselves.

There is a nice circularity in making a woodcut of a tree. And thinking about trees in art, writing and history, bearing witness, inspiring peace.

Stephanie Radok

Click here to download the Tree Stories flyer