Threats to Wet Tropics plants inspire artist

The Tropical Treasures art exhibition—a series of remarkable artworks inspired by months researching the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area—toured the Far North in September.

While in residence at the Queensland State Archives, artist Donna Davis looked into the 30 year history of the World Heritage listing of the Wet Tropics, particularly the endemic plant species found here. She also took part in a mountain top rescue mission to collect and record plant species at increased risk from rising temperatures, conducted by the Australian Tropical Herbarium and the Authority.

Donna derived inspiration from research being done by the Authority’s Dr Sandra Abell into the impacts of our warming climate on plants living in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area, comparing past, present and possible imagined futures of threatened plant species that only occur in the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area.

The resulting artwork includes 36 sculptures, representing 36 species of endemic Wet Tropics plant species that live in the cloud forests above 1000m that are currently vulnerable due to changing climate conditions.

View the artwork and hear from the artist herself, along with Dr Sandra Abell, in this short video.

Published: 12th Nov 2019