The Silent Connection

Cindy Watkins
Saturday 8 February – Sunday 27 April 2025

The world of trees, in particular those found in Lutruwita/Tasmania’s ancient forests, are the inspiration for this captivating exhibition by award-winning Tasmanian textile artist, Cindy Watkins.

With skilled precision, using silk and cotton as her paint and the sewing machine as her brush, Watkins evokes the beauty and majesty of these sentinel beings. Through her work she expresses her own wonder of the natural world, and its diversity experienced in those precious places she has explored through bushwalking.

Drawing inspiration from Peter Wohlleben’s groundbreaking book The Hidden Life of Trees (Black Inc. 2016), the impact of his ideas and research has had a profound impact on Watkins’ creative practice, from her 5000 Trees project to her fine-art naturalistic embroidery.

The existence of mycelium creating an interconnected ‘wood wide web’ was revelatory – and the notion of communication through these natural entities is embodied in the very nature of Watkins’ creative practice. Her medium is a metaphor for the way trees communicate with each other and their surroundings.

The Silent Connection brings together a body of work across the breadth of her practice that shows Watkins’ response to these ideas. Her practice expands through her own experience and knowledge of the natural world.

You are invited to marvel at the intricacies of Cindy Watkins’ remarkable work and reflect on the magical and mysterious nature of trees, their integral importance to our world, and the urgent need to preserve and protect them.