Grafton Regional Gallery & Esk Studio invites you to the Closing Ceremony of:

L U N A R_B I O M E

with TIDE OF BREATH: Tea, talks & market of ideas

1pm, Saturday 11 April

“On the last day of the world... I would plant a tree.” - Merwin

Join us for an afternoon of listening and learning as we explore regenerative ecological practices that nurture the health of Country. This is an invitation to listen, learn, and remember our place as caretakers within a living, breathing Earth.

Market of Ideas: 1.00pm

The market of ideas brings together groups throughout the Valley to share their work in a market atmosphere, with tea. Lions Club Clarence will be launching a threatened species publication, created in collaboration with Esk Studio.

Stalls include:

Hopeful Disruptions - Microscopes and sonic soil education

Clarence River Guardians Project - launching long-term water quality monitoring in the Clarence River catchment

An elders lounge

Gumbaynggirr Rangers sharing their latest projects

Wildlife Preservation Clarence Valley

Clarence Valley Landcare with trees to take home and nest boxes

OzFish

Art activities

Music: 3.00pm

Performance by local Gumbaynggirr artist Manduway

Talks: 4.00pm

Gumbaynggirr woman, Debbie Taylor, will speak to how language revitalisation is healing Country.
Scott Johnson, from Southern Cross University, will share water quality data results from river monitoring with the Clarence River Guardians project, aswell as launch the long-term water quality monitoring planned in the Clarence River catchment.

Endlings Performance: 5.00pm

Entry by donation

L U N A R_B I O M E

Bowing down through ancient pulse,

the last lovers left alive…

Cycles eclipse, collapse, re-birth...

The tide of breath that holds.

Bones to stones, the trees in lungs

The dark space of quiet minds.

Carbon devours, in ritual soil

the sacred loops of time.

The Endlings,

gatekeepers of what will be,

forever lovers in death.

L U N A R_B I O M E brings together notions of grief, imagination and play in response to the collective existential reckoning of the times.

Using interactive modes of ritual performance, art, science and education this sequence of work seeks new modes of collective meaning in a rapidly changing climate and its ensuing social uncertainty.

“Our stories are struggling to accommodate the seismic dysphoria of the time. In order to stay resilient and productive we must find the spaces to sit with loss between action, and in process envision new ways of defining narrative.”

This work was developed through a co- creational process by Al Stark, Antoinette O’Brien, Aviva Reed, Jade Dewi Tyas Tunggal and timecodespace.

This project was made possible through support of the Australian Government through Create NSW.

Images: Esk Studio, 2025. Courtesy of the artists.

Contact the host of CLOSING CEREMONY | L U N A R_B I O M E