Tanim (2026)

Tanim: Tracing roots to a plantly attention is a workshop kit that features a series of exploratory mapping and drawing exercises that encourages Filipino Australians to think reflectively on their existing relationship to culture and plants. In response to cultivating a Filipino experience of 'ginhawa' or ease and synergy of the human and nature, this project's collateral was developed through a co-creation image making practice with plants, notably through mark making, colour and taking inspiration from botanical natural forms.

Working in the PAACI (Philippine Australian Arts, Culture and Innovation Centre) committee, I was thinking about how we can better attune ourselves to the non-human, especially in the design of the institution's programs. It brought me to think about the ways I can embed plants of cultural significance to an uplifted attention to our Filipino Australian communities. Guided through the stages of growth from ground to garden, the workshop prompt cards invites its participants to place themselves in a reflective state and put these thoughts into tangible form through drawing and mapping focused action cards. In the embodiment of a plant from seed, stem and blooming into a flower, it is hoped that the participants will leave with a deeper, shining attention to the plants they encounter and the grounds they exist within.