Art For Takayna gathers 36 artists at Abbotsford Convent fighting to protect Tasmania's ancient wilderness before it's lost forever.
Tasmania’s Takayna / Tarkine is under threat, and a new exhibition at Abbotsford Convent is making sure people pay attention. Art For Takayna brings together paintings, prints, cartoons and installations from 36 artists who’ve joined Bob Brown Foundation’s decade-long campaign to protect this extraordinary landscape from logging, mining and deforestation.
Running until 17 November at The Store, the exhibition features heavy hitters like Walkley award winner Jon Kudelka, Guardian cartoonist First Dog On The Moon, Ballarat painter Robert Whitson, Tasmanian printmaker Xan Nunn and muralist Ghostpatrol. Over 1000 artists have contributed to the movement since it began, using their work to show what stands to be lost.
Art For Takayna at Abbotsford Convent
- Where: The Store, Abbotsford Convent, Naarm/Melbourne
- When: Until Sunday 17 November
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An Australian first
One of the exhibition’s most unusual elements is a three-night piano performance by South Australian composer Dave McEvoy. McEvoy created something unprecedented in Australian arts history: he had a grand piano transported into threatened Takayna forest, where he composed music surrounded by ancient temperate rainforest.
Now that same piano sits in the gallery, where McEvoy will perform the compositions he created among trees that could soon be gone. It’s a powerful way to bring the forest’s presence into the city, connecting audiences directly to the place they’re being asked to help protect. His pieces capture what it feels like to stand in one of Australia’s largest temperate rainforests while knowing its future hangs in the balance.
Why it matters
Takayna / Tarkine holds world heritage values but lacks official protection, leaving it vulnerable to industrial destruction. Artist and activist Sarah McConnell, who opened the exhibition, calls it a chorus of voices delivering one clear message: this place is unique, important and hugely special. Losing it would mean losing something that can never be replaced.
Bob Brown Foundation’s Campaigns Director Jenny Weber points out that protecting Takayna would help stabilise the climate during a period of massive environmental upheaval. Despite its significance, they say governments have consistently failed to grant protection. In response, the Foundation is building a global movement of artists, activists and community members ready to defend the landscape.
Jon Kudelka’s piece centres on Tasmanian devils, an endangered species that depends on Takayna remaining intact. Devils are nature’s cleanup crew in Tasmania, equipped with jaws that open 80 degrees and bone-crushing bites. Their simple digestive systems process rotting meat quickly, preventing disease. Kudelka created his work after being inspired by the Florentine Valley’s beauty in 2022.
A collective effort
Artists from Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales have contributed work spanning wildly different practices. David Booth / Ghostpatrol, Bella Shaw, Heather Matthew, Louise Visser, Robert Whitson, Trace Balla, Chloe Holliday, Brooke Thompson, Allison Lovell, Tom Polacheck, Georgina Kenyon / BATSY, Carl Whittaker, Milli Leibfarth, Karen Keefe, Susan Wright, Sarah Faulkner, Elke Kerr, Federica Pellizari, Alexandra Shelley, Tim Cooper, Sarah Murfitt, Xan Nunn, Kerry Kershaw, Charles Chadwick, Aviva Reed, Emma Grace, Rob Blakers, Jaimee Paul, Jon Kudelka, Sally D’Orsogna, Daniella Conser, Cody Cangell-Smith, First Dog on the Moon, Deborah Wace, Imogen Yang & Marcus O’Donnell, and Michelle Stewart each offer their own perspective on what makes Takayna worth fighting for.
Together, their work transforms The Store into something more than a gallery. It becomes a rallying point, a visual argument and a reminder that some places are too precious to sacrifice for short-term industrial gain. Takayna is one of the planet’s last truly wild places, and this Abbotsford Convent exhibition makes abundantly clear what disappears if protection doesn’t come soon.
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