Growing place

Abstract

Trees and their forest collectives have long been treated as landscapes for human activity in prose, often viewed as unintelligent and without agency. The ‘vegetal turn’ has brought new perspectives of trees and plants, supported by scientific research, recognising them as more-than-humans who lead complex lives. Inspired by field work in the Monterey/Radiata Pine forests of California and south-eastern Australia, and South Australia’s early forestry history, Growing Place is speculative fiction that focuses on the history and lives of Radiata Pine seedlings waiting to be returned to the soil, and their entanglement with the ever-changing-bark ones (humans). Through an observational perspective, tree agency, including awareness and forest memory, is explored alongside a human and their intentions.