Takayna Forest Face, 2026
in partnership with the Bob Brown Foundation
Takayna Forest Face
David Booth + Kristoffer Paulsen
Opening event Saturday the 8th at 12pm
CS Gallery Caroline Springs
5th of August - 12th of October
My good friend Jenny from the Bob Brown Foundation will be there on Saturday to officially open the exhibition.
I hope you can come along and connect with the forest.
Catalogue of prints available, contact here
At the beginning of 2026, Kris Paulsen and I travelled to lutruwita to join the Bob Brown Foundation annual residency ‘Art For Takayna’. I had undertaken the same residency two years prior and since that time had been fermenting an idea to return with Kris to make an artwork together.
Takayna is the largest temperate rainforest in Australia. It is under constant threat from mining and logging. After spending extended periods of time in the cold, damp forest, I sketched the idea of positioning a face within its canopy. I built a set of 50 modular wooden shapes to take with me, with the thought of arranging the elements to build and respond to different sites. What transpired is the culmination of walking, talking, playing and chasing the light in this enormous habitat.
I’ve come to feel a lot more at home in the dark and wet Tasmanian forest. This suite of images may be testament to that, but more importantly they give a face to the giant Takayna entity - a densely layered group of macro and micro ecosystems working together.
Takayna is speaking and we are listening.
portrait photo: Rosie Hastie.
opening gathering photos: Nicole Reed
Printing: Thirds Fine Art Printing
Framing: United Measures
Partner: Bob Brown Foundation +City of Melton