“Deep Earth,” “Raw Earth,” “Fertile Earth” and “Subterranean Earth” were the themes that shaped the 2023 Festival of Landscape Architecture, Un/Earth, held in Tarntanya/Adelaide on the lands of the Kaurna people. Curated by Lyndon Slavin, Tanya Court, Scott Hawken and Gemma Kleinig in collaboration with cultural advisors Uncle Jeffrey Newchurch and Aunty Merle Simpson, the event aimed to draw attention to “the worlds beneath us, through exploration of the physical and metaphoric soil horizons upon which landscape architecture practice is founded.” I have attended most of the AILA festivals over the past nine years, including last year’s edition, Country. This year’s edition struck me with four key learnings.
1. Building relationships, listening and good process
In pursuit of progress and the deliveryprocesses can be seen as formalities. Uncle Jeffrey Newchurch and AILA cultural ambassador Tommy Day emphasized that First Nations groups are tired of their involvement being seen as a “value-add.” Day urged designers to stop coming to First Nations groups with preconceived ideas, and instead to come with an open heart, a willingness to understand, and a respect for cultural processes and timelines.
