Alice Blackwood & Maddi Obi
Alice Blackwood is a poet and performer, based in Bathurst (Wiradyuri Land). They are drawn to themes of plant-people relationships, social justice, and community. In 2020 they developed a solo show ‘In Breath’, a poetic performance for plants and their people; other performance highlights include NSW poetry slam finals, environmental conferences, and many a campfire. Maddi Obi is an artist and designer based on Dabee, Wiradjuri Land in Kandos. Her work is deeply rooted in nature, exploring the connections between local plants, ecological cycles, and our shared environment. Through sculpture, bricolage and printmaking, she creates art that fosters curiosity and a sense of stewardship for the natural world. Together, they bring their individual creative practices into conversation: Maddi’s tangible forms of bricolage, printing and installation, with Alice’s poetic and performative. Underlying this is a shared commitment to deep listening to more-than-human intelligences, curiosity, playfulness, and obsession with plants.
We draw inspiration from Natasha Myer’s invocation to conspire with plants, and bring in the Planthroposcene. We are interested in creating spaces that move beyond the purely intellectual, into a fully embodied, sensory experience. Through our collaboration we hope to disrupt reductionist ways of seeing, and listen to the voices we have too often ignored, lost, or forgotten. Through deep listening, shared curiosity and play, we are exploring ways of creating multi-modal, multi-sensory human-plant dialogue.
