Leaves: Eco-Anxiety
Amidst ecological polycrisis, what practical, cultural or mystical remedies are possible?
Adelaide Contemporary Experimental
11 September to 5 December 2026
These works offer different ways into this question: A yarning circle creates space for conversations about Country, care and cultivating native species. Eucalyptus leaves frame and scent the gallery. A temple offers a place for quiet retreat and tea-drinking. Other works turn to ecological restoration, performance, ritual, magic and noise as ways of responding to environmental anxiety and grief.
Living with ecological crises has become a part of everyday life. Climate change, habitat loss and environmental degradation bring with them anxiety and grief about what is happening to the natural world, and uncertainty about what comes next.
Leaves: Eco-Anxiety brings together seven artists whose artworks respond to these feelings sympathetically and remedially. Across the exhibition, caring for Country and planting native habitat sit alongside contemplation, restoration, divination and drinking tea. Together, in different ways, they consider how we might care for the natural world while living with the knowledge of its increasing precarity.
Feature Image: Emiko Artemis (2026) Adelaide Contemporary Experimental. Photography by Andre Castellucci.
Exhibition Dates: 11 September – 5 December 2026
Opening night on Thursday 10 September, 4pm–7pm
Stephanie Doddridge
Emiko Artemis
Jingwei Bu
Bryce Cawte
Alycia Bennett
Crista Bradshaw
Trudy Tandberg
Artists
Stephanie Doddridge – Bioplastic
Stephanie Doddridge's ongoing experimentation with bioplastics features across two exhibitions: 'Leaves: Eco-Anxiety' at Adelaide Contemporary Experimental (ACE) and 'Tools for Quiet Activism' at the Museum of Economic Botany, presented in partnership with ACE. Through a process of trialling, observing and refining, Doddridge explores the possibilities of these biodegradable materials, creating artworks that embrace change, impermanence and eventual decomposition.
Doddridge works with non-toxic, compostable bioplastic as an artistic material. These surfaces are living - they remain responsive to moisture, temperature fluctuations, mould, insects and microorganisms, and they shrink, crack, tear and change over time. Their translucency catches and diffuses light, revealing variations in texture and the organic matter held within. They reflect the patience and close observation that characterise Doddridge’s artistic practice. Each piece is the result of many hours of trialling, waiting, learning from the materials and trying again.
Embedded with seeds, soil, flowers and leaves, and suspended from eucalyptus branches with iris-leaf string, these bioplastic works remain connected to the materials and processes from which they emerged. When they are no longer needed, they can break down, returning nutrients to the soil and supporting new growth, allowing decomposition itself to become part of the life of the artwork.
ACE is supported by the South Australian Government through Create SA and the Australian Government through Creative Australia.
Stephanie Doddridge is supported by Create SA and Bio·R and has also been supported by the Porter Street Fund.
Bryce Cawte is supported by City of Adelaide and has also been supported through a Carclew Fellowship.
The performance program is supported by City of Adelaide.
