Trancescapes: Afro-Brazilian Terreiros and Other Landscapes

Trancescapes: Afro-Brazilian Terreiros and Other Landscapes, Denis Winston Memorial Lecture

Date: Tuesday, 08 September 2026

Time: 5:45pm - 7:00pm

Location: Nelson Meers Foundation Auditorium, Chau Chak Wing Museum

From the borderlands of Ireland and Northern Ireland to sacred groves in Brazil and Nigeria, this special Denis Winston Memorial Lecture delivered by Professor Gareth Doherty, explores diverse engagements with urban landscapes. With particular attention to Afro-Brazilian terreiros as sites where trance and transcendence, gender and materiality, and ritual and everyday life converge, the lecture introduces the concept of “trancescapes” and considers how these spaces can enrich our understanding of landscape and urbanism. Following the lecture, an expert panel reflects on the critical possibilities for socially engaged landscape design, research, and urban planning in Sydney.  

Speakers

Keynote

Gareth Doherty, Associate Professor National University of Singapore

Panel

Ann Forsyth, Halloran Professor of Plannning and Design, University of Sydney

Martin Bryant, Professor, SoAB Discipline of Landscape Architecture, The University of Technology Sydney

Chaired by

Nicole Gurran, Director, Henry Halloran Urban and Regional Research Initiative

Sydney Festival 7-11 September 

National events September – October 2026

Translocality describes the interconnectedness between different places and people, beyond national boundaries. The circulation of people, goods, knowledge and capital, though an ancient process, is facilitated and impacted by new technologies, bringing new opportunities and challenges for cities and regions. Increasingly important, a translocal lens highlights these deep and intersecting relationships between people and places over time – from the legacies of colonisation and environmental change to contemporary patterns of migration and cultural diversity. Through panel discussions, debates, exhibitions, and tours, and featuring thought leaders from academia, the arts, industry, and civil society, the 2026 Festival of translocal Urbanism examines and celebrates the complex social, economic and environmental connections between local and global communities.