Welcome
to correspondences. Our aim is to create lasting people connections across cultures through the medium of art.
to correspondences. Our aim is to create lasting people connections across cultures through the medium of art.
As our project developed, we compiled a list of reading and listening content connected with the project's central ideas and experiences. Below you will find the name of the titles and also where you can borrow/view/access the work at your local library or online. In due course, a few paper-based titles will also be added to our community library onsite. Please press the 'donate' button below if you would like to donate for us to acquire these books.
1
Musicophilia: tales of music and the brain / Oliver Sacks / 2007
"In Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks examines the powers of music through the individual experiences of patients, musicians, and everyday people - from a man who is struck by lightning and suddenly inspired to become a pianist at the age of forty-two, to an entire group of children with Williams syndrome who are hypermusical from birth; from people with "amusia," to whom a symphony sounds like the clattering of pots and pans, to a man whose memory spans only seven seconds - for everything but music." "Our exquisite sensitivity to music can sometimes go wrong: Sacks explores how catchy tunes can subject us to hours of mental replay, and how a surprising number of people acquire nonstop musical hallucinations that assault them night and day. Yet far more frequently, music goes right: Sacks describes how music can animate people with Parkinson's disease who cannot otherwise move, give words to stroke patients who cannot otherwise speak, and calm and organize people whose memories are ravaged by Alzheimer's or amnesia." "Music is irresistible, haunting, and unforgettable, and in Musicophilia, Oliver Sacks tells us why."--BOOK JACKET.
Trees of Victoria and Adjoining Areas / Leon Costermans / 6th Edition / 2006
Describes some 250 species of trees and small shrubs that are native to Victoria, southern New South Wales (including the ACT) and South Australia eastwards from Adelaide providing clear illustrations and descriptions.
Plants of Melbourne's Western Plains: a gardener's guide to the original flora / 2nd Edition, 2012
“Fully revised and updated this second edition describes even more indigenous plants that are available for purchase and suitable for gardens. All the plants described are indigenous to the basalt clays and alluvial loams found on what is described as Melbourne’s Volcanic or Western Plains. Each species is illustrated by a full-colour photograph and gives information on identification and cultivation. The list includes most of the plants appropriate and available for use in gardening, revegetation and landscaping. There are also chapters on ponds, aboriginal use, butterflies, birds, frog attracting and reptiles.”
Plants: past, present and future / Zena Cumpston, Michael-Shawn Fletcher & Lesley Head / 2022
“What do you need to know to prosper as a people for at least 65,000 years? The First Knowledges series provides a deeper understanding of the expertise and ingenuity of Indigenous Australians. Plants are the foundation of life on Earth. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always known this to be true. For millennia, reciprocal relationships with plants have provided both sustenance to Indigenous communities and many of the materials needed to produce a complex array of technologies. Managed through fire and selective harvesting and replanting, the longevity and intricacy of these partnerships are testament to the ingenuity and depth of Indigenous first knowledges. Plants: Past, Present and Future celebrates the deep cultural significance of plants and shows how engaging with this heritage could be the key to a healthier, more sustainable future.”
Black Wattle / Kate ten Buuren, Moorina Bonini, Neika Lehman, and Maya Hodge / 2022
“Black Wattle is a keeping place: a collection of poetry, photography, collage and illustration developed by this mob arts collective over the last 12 months.”
“Warmth, respect, and strength thread our conversations together. We map our connections and disconnections from one another, but also from ourselves. We celebrate the things we have been able to do together and imagine the things we haven’t been able to do together.” – this mob, 2021
“this mob is a blak arts collective based on Boonwurrung and Wurundjeri lands. We centre and prioritise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the work that we do, creating spaces to come together to unite emerging blak artists.”
Indigenous plant use: a booklet on the medicinal, nutritional and technological use of indigenous plants / by Zena Cumpston /2020
“Research fellow Zena Cumpston, a Barkandji woman, created the new Indigenous plant use booklet to help individuals, schools and community groups in Victoria grow and appreciate indigenous plants. It contains information on more than 50 indigenous plant species, and labels that can be printed, laminated and displayed in the garden.”
To find out more and download the booklet, press the button.
Nore More Poetry / Genevieve Callaghan / 2022
“no more poetry presents one story a day, the the debut anthology by writer Genevieve Callaghan.”
"…Il était une fois… an Australian woman had an idea on the plane to France. The idea was quite simple - she would write one very short story every day, and post it on Instagram. Posting the stories online would keep her accountable to any potential followers, but handwriting the stories in her often illegible script would keep her from pandering to those followers - keep her storytelling pure. Honest. Her handwriting was like her speaking voice, or her language, or her mind - some people would understand it, some people wouldn’t. C’est la vie. Aside from the artistic and practical benefits the woman thought she might gain from embarking on the project, the deeper benefit (she hoped) would be a personal one."
“the woman” reflects on one story a day.
Natura urbana : ecological constellations in urban space / Matthew Gandy / 2022
"In Natura Urbana, Matthew Gandy explores the articulation of alternative, and in some cases, counterhegemonic sources of knowledge about urban nature produced by artists, writers, scientists, and other primarily curiosity-driven encounters, including voices seldom heard in environmental discourse"--
The botanical mind : art, mysticism and the cosmic tree / edited by Gina Buenfeld and Martin Clark / 2021
“Humanity's place in the natural order is under scrutiny as never before, held in a precarious balance between visible and invisible forces: from the microscopic threat of a virus to the monumental power of climate change. Drawing on indigenous traditions from the Amazon rainforest; alternative perspectives on Western scientific rationalism; and new thinking around plant intelligence, philosophy and cultural theory, The Botanical Mind Online investigates the significance of the plant kingdom to human life, consciousness and spirituality across cultures and through time. It positions the plant as both a universal symbol found in almost every civilisation and religion across the globe, and the most fundamental but misunderstood form of life on our planet. This new online project has been developed in response to the COVID-19 crisis and the closure of our galleries due to the pandemic. 'The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree' was originally conceived as a trans-generational group exhibition, but has been postponed. In the meantime, we have launched this complimentary online programme of new artist commissions, podcasts, films, texts, images and audio, expanding on and enriching the ideas and issues informing the show over at botanicalmind.online ... During this period of enforced stillness, our behaviour might be seen to resonate with plants: like them we are now fixed in one place, subject to new rhythms of time, contemplation, personal growth and transformation. Millions of years ago plants chose to forego mobility in favour of a life rooted in place, embedded in a particular context or environment. The life of a plant is one of constant, sensitive response to its environment - a process of growth, problem-solving, nourishment and transformation, played out at speeds and scales very different to our own. In this moment of global crisis and change there has perhaps never been a better moment to reflect on and learn from them.”--
Strangers : essays on the human and nonhuman / Rebecca Tamás / 2020
“In Strangers, Rebecca Tamas explores where the human and nonhuman meet, and why this delicate connection just might be the most important relationship of our times.”
Braiding sweetgrass / Robin Wall Kimmerer / 2020
"An inspired weaving of indigenous knowledge, plant science, and personal narrative from a distinguished professor of science and a Native American whose previous book, Gathering Moss, was awarded the John Burroughs Medal for outstanding nature writing. As a botanist and professor of plant ecology, Robin Wall Kimmerer has spent a career learning how to ask questions of nature using the tools of science. As a Potawatomi woman, she learned from elders, family, and history that the Potawatomi, as well as a majority of other cultures indigenous to this land, consider plants and animals to be our oldest teachers. In Braiding Sweetgrass, Kimmerer brings these two lenses of knowing together to reveal what it means to see humans as "the younger brothers of creation." As she explores these themes she circles toward a central argument: the awakening of a wider ecological consciousness requires the acknowledgement and celebration of our reciprocal relationship with the world. Once we begin to listen for the languages of other beings, we can begin to understand the innumerable life-giving gifts the world provides us and learn to offer our thanks, our care, and our own gifts in return"-- "As a leading researcher in the field of biology, Robin Wall Kimmerer understands the delicate state of our world. But as an active member of the Potawatomi nation, she senses and relates to the world through a way of knowing far older than any science. In Braiding Sweetgrass, she intertwines these two modes of awareness--the analytic and the emotional, the scientific and the cultural--to ultimately reveal a path toward healing the rift that grows between people and nature. The woven essays that construct this book bring people back into conversation with all that is green and growing; a universe that never stopped speaking to us, even when we forgot how to listen"--
Arts of living on a damaged planet : ghost of the anthropocene / Anna Tsing [and three others], editors / 2017
“Living on a damaged planet challenges who we are and where we live. This timely anthology calls on twenty eminent humanists and scientists to revitalize curiosity, observation, and transdisciplinary conversation about life on earth.As human-induced environmental change threatens multispecies livability,Arts of Living on a Damaged Planetputs forward a bold proposal: entangled histories, situated narratives, and thick descriptions offer urgent "arts of living." Included are essays by scholars in anthropology, ecology, science studies, art, literature, and bioinformatics who posit critical and creative tools for collaborative survival in a more-than-human Anthropocene. The essays are organized around two key figures that also serve as the publication's two openings: Ghosts, or landscapes haunted by the violences of modernity; and Monsters, or interspecies and intraspecies sociality. Ghosts and Monsters are tentacular, windy, and arboreal arts that invite readers to encounter ants, lichen, rocks, electrons, flying foxes, salmon, chestnut trees, mud volcanoes, border zones, graves, radioactive waste-in short, the wonders and terrors of an unintended epoch.”--
To the river : a journey beneath the surface / Olivia Laing / 2017
“Over sixty years after Virginia Woolf drowned in the River Ouse, Olivia Laing set out one midsummer morning to walk its banks, from source to sea. Along the way, she explores the roles that rivers play in human lives, tracing their intricate flow through literature, mythology, and folklore. Lyrical and stirring, To the River is a passionate investigation into how history resides in a landscape-and how ghosts never quite leave the places they love.”--
The unofficial countryside / Richard Mabey /2010 (first published 1974)
“The film of the same name was first transmitted in 1974. “a proper reckoning, the Doomsday Book of a topography too fascinating to be left alone… Mabey logs the tough fecundity of the margin, where wild nature spurns the advertised reservation and obliterates the laminated notice-boards of sanctioned history.” —Iain Sinclair
Confabulations / John Berger / 2016
'Language is a body, a living creature ...and this creature's home is the inarticulate as well as the articulate'. John Berger's work has revolutionized the way we understand visual language. In this new book he writes about language itself, and how it relates to thought, art, song, storytelling and political discourse today. Also containing Berger's own drawings, notes, memories and reflections on everything from Albert Camus to global capitalism, Confabulations takes us to what is 'true, essential and urgent'.
The Last Children of Tokyo / Yoko Tawada / 2014
“Yoshiro thinks he might never die. A hundred years old and counting, he is one of Japan's many 'old-elderly'; men and women who remember a time before the air and the sea were poisoned, before terrible catastrophe prompted Japan to shut itself off from the rest of the world. He may live for decades yet, but he knows his beloved great-grandson - born frail and prone to sickness - might not survive to adulthood. Day after day, it takes all of Yoshiro's sagacity to keep Mumei alive.”
Kulin language cards and Kulin Tales / Sonie Marie
Kulin language cards: “Created by Bunurong woman, Sonia Marie and featuring illustrations by renowned artist and Wagiman man, Nathan Patternson, this beautiful card deck includes 50 cards of 24 animals that live on Bunurong land. Bunurong Traditional Lands are from the Werribee River, across to Wilsons Promontory, up to the Dandenong Ranges, and back to the Mornington Peninsula and Phillip Island. Included in the cards are animals from the sea, animals that walk on the land, and birds and insects that fly above this beautiful part of Australia.”
Kulin Tales / Sonie Marie Illustrations by Judy Prosser: “Each story is entwined with Traditional language and knowledge, taking you to a special place. Step back in time and share the seasonal movements of the Bunurong People. Seven Stories for Seven Seasons. Working in collaboration with the magnificent artist Judy Prosser. Each piece has been chosen specifically to enhance the stories shared.”
Brown Lake, Samantha Lang, Prototype / 2021
“Radical nature, stories of water and minerals, portable ecologies, landscape as protagonist, portrait of a place, anthropocene dreams, geography and imagination.”--
Hydrofeminism: Or, On Becoming a Body of Water, Astrida Neimanis / 2012
“We are all bodies of water. To think embodiment as watery belies the understanding of bodies that we have inherited from the dominant Western metaphysical tradition. As watery, we experience ourselves less as isolated entities, and more as oceanic eddies: I am a singular, dynamic whorl dissolving in a complex, fluid circulation. The space between our selves and our others is at once as distant as the primeval sea, yet also closer than our own skin the traces of those same oceanic beginnings still cycling through us, pausing as this bodily thing we call mine.Water is between bodies, but of bodies, before us and beyond us, yet also very presently this body, too. Deictics falter. Our comfortable categories of thought begin to erode. Water entangles our bodies in relations of gift, debt, theft, complicity, differentiation, relation. What might becoming a body of waterebbing, fluvial, dripping, coursing, traversing time and space, pooling as both matter and meaning give to feminism, its theories, and its practices?” —Astrida Neimanis
NOTE:—You may need to register via Academia platform before you can download the PDF for free. Just google the title and go from there!
Triple RRR Voyage of the Dawn Treader / Broadcast/podcast / Presented by Sophie Miles
Music to cultivate stillness and peace. Guided meditations, healing vibrations, deep space explorations.
Sunday nights or even Monday mornings 4am - 6am. Presented by Sophie Miles.
ABC RN Offtrack / Broadcast/podcast Presented by Ann Jones
Off Track combines the relaxing sounds of nature with awesome stories of wildlife and environmental science, all recorded in the outdoors. The program is no longer in production, but you can listen to the series as a podcast via the ABC Listen app.
Camden Art Centre / The Botanical Mind: Art, Mysticism and The Cosmic Tree / Podcasts / 2020
“Drawing on indigenous traditions from the Amazon rainforest; alternative perspectives on Western scientific rationalism; and new thinking around plant intelligence, philosophy and cultural theory, The Botanical Mind Online investigates the significance of the plant kingdom to human life, consciousness and spirituality across cultures and through time. It positions the plant as both a universal symbol found in almost every civilisation and religion across the globe, and the most fundamental but misunderstood form of life on our planet.” --
Access the podcasts released via the button. There is also a book that has been published, access here.
iNaturalist
“One of the world’s most popular nature apps, iNaturalist helps you identify the plants and animals around you. Get connected with a community of over a million scientists and naturalists who can help you learn more about nature! What’s more, by recording and sharing your observations, you’ll create research-quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature. iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.”--
