Genestreaming Sculptures
National Tourism Trail Initiative
A Journey through Deep Time into Culture, Conservation & Science
With the proven participation of communities across Australia and abroad the Genestreaming Sculptures national tourism trail program facilitates new possibilities for Education, Eco-Tourism & Cultural Tourism engagement through Public Art & Augmented Reality
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Twin Creeks Genestreaming Sculpture – Left to right: Dr Noel Nannup Project ambassador & cultural advisor, Aunty Carol Pettersen cofounder/cultural advisor, Mali Moir scientific illustrator/ botanical illustration workshops, Ben Beeton cofounder/sculpture design/field naturalist art
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Genestreaming sculptures feature the artwork of first nations artists of the region on the outside of the sculpture and field naturalist art focusing on local ecosystems, endangered species and their deep time shared ancestry on the inside of the sculpture. (note the one exception is our sculpture at Singapore Gardens by the Bay)
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When people walk into the sculpture they are walking into a giant evolutionary tree which maps the shared ancestry of selected regional species through geological time.
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Singapore Gardens by the Bay Genestreaming Sculpture
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Through public art and new technology the Genestreaming National Sculpture Trail program connects first nations art with nature journaling, science and conservation initiatives through sculptures that depict site specific evolutionary trees of 15 local species plus humans. We have a sculpture at Singapore Gardens by the Bay and have opened a trail of sculptures in the South West WA as well as the Bunya Mountains and Alice Springs. Our objective is to grow the national and international tourism trail of Genestreaming sculptures and develop further interactive experiences of the Tree of Life. To achieve these goals we are looking to work with local governments, museums, education institutions and conservation organisations.
Denmark Genestreaming Sculpture – Left to right: Mark Hewson – engineering/structural design, Aunty Carol Pettersen – co-founder/cultural consultant, Ben Beeton co-founder, sculpture design, field naturalist art, Mali Moir – scientific illustrator, botanical illustration workshops, Gary Muir – shared ancestry research.
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The sculptures have their origins in virtual reality teaching tools conceived by Ben Beeton at the Australian National University to visualise details of the Tree of Life.
Through the participation of communities across Australia and abroad our vision is to facilitate new possibilities for engagement in conservation, education and the arts. When undertaking the field naturalist work we seek to consult with local people who are involved in conservation efforts. This initiative focuses on bringing local people together in order to address the serious challenges of habitat loss, growing numbers of endangered species and climate change.
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Research for the Evolutionary Tree Base Plate
The sculpture will feature a unique phylogenetic tree which shares the connected ancestry of local species in the region with humans.
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Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture
An interactive experience through deep time
AR Singapore Genestreaming Sculpture – Left to right: Ben Beeton co-founder, sculpture design, field naturalist art, Mali Moir – scientific illustrator, Mayor of Toowoomba Region Geoff McDonald, Shannon Bauwens Ranger Coordinator for the Bunya Peoples Aboriginal Corporation
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Examples of First Nations art from some of our previous projects
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Examples of Field Naturalist art from some of our previous projects
Details by Ben Beeton & Mali Moir of the Art of Nature School
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We invite your community to join the growing
National Tourism Trail of Augmented & Physical Genestreaming Sculptures
We are interested in developing regional tourism trails of Genestreaming Sculptures across the Bio-Regions of Australia as contributing details of the National Trail
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Projects thus far undertaken
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Singapore Gardens by the Bay Genestreaming Sculpture
Internal Art of the Genestreaming Sculpture for Singapore Gardens by the Bay
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=920381296594215&ref=sharing
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Twin Creeks WA Genestreaming Sculpture
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Northcliffe Genestreaming
Dr Alan Briggs, President of GeoParks WA at the Northcliffe Genestreaming Sculpture
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Denmark Genestreaming
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Bremer Bay Genestreaming
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Ravensthorpe Genestreaming
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Wave Rock Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture
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Kellerberrin Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture
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Capel Augmented Reality Sculpture
Internal art is created by the Art of Nature School team being Ben Beeton & Mali Moir
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We received funding from Lotterywest to develop the first tourism trail of Genestreaming Sculptures which we envisage will be the beginning of the national and international tourism trails of Genestreaming Sculptures.
20230727 Lotterywest – The Gondwana Link Genestreaming Sculptures Trail funding cheque presentation in Albany and National Regional and Economic Development Summit presentation in Toowoomba. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to the in-kind support for our project provided by BlueScope Steel, Vulcan, Signarama, Rollform, Torbay Glass Studios, Hartway Galvanizers & DDC Engineering.
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Bunya Mountains Genestreaming Sculpture
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Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture in Alice Springs
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Testing the Augmented Reality Genestreaming Sculpture at Mount Magnet
At Mount Magnet we created a digital mural which featured all of the contributing artwork in the sculpture. At Mount Magnet they placed their mural in the local visitors information center.
The mural at Mount Magnet has been very successful in promoting the project.
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Team Biographies
Ben Beeton
Genestreaming Sculpture Design & Co-founder/ Field Naturalist Artist
Ben Beeton has completed over 40 artist residency projects around Australia and abroad focusing on the ecology, geology and deep time history of natural systems. Alongside designing the Genestreams toolkit for exploring the Tree of Life and the Genestreams Sculptures Ben Beeton is the creator of the SciArt website. “My art drops a thread through aspects of the ecology, geology and deep time history of natural systems. My process of creating art is a learning experience from which has grown an active interest in scientific model making. As I travelled across Australia and abroad learning from scientists, indigenous elders and conservationists about the special natural environments which they studied and cared for, I envisaged an interactive educational website that would share their stories of country. As a consequence I developed SciArt, a website which along with showcasing my art allows access to the knowledge shared with me by many learned people that has inspired my art. I have completed many artist residency projects focusing on the study of natural systems across Australia including being invited to accompany the Burke & Wills Environmental Expedition as artist. I am convinced that the Tree of Life is a hugely underutilized resource from which we can gain a deeper understanding of connectivity between all of life on Earth. It was for this reason that I developed the Genestreams toolkit. I am, with Aunty Carol a co-founder of the Genestreams Sculptures program which followed on from an inspiring question from Aunty Carol Pettersen. I am a co-founder of the Art of Nature School with Mali Moir“.
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Aunty Carol Pettersen OAM
Co-founder of the Genestreaming Sculptures Initiative, Projects Ambassadors, Cultural Advisor
Aunty Carol Pettersen OAM is a Justice of the Peace, cultural advisor wer Elder belonging to the Minung-Gnudju people of the Noongar Nation in the southwest of Western Australia. She was born at Gnowangerup Mission wer is the daughter of Kathleen Gray wer the granddaughter of Johnny Knapp. Carol is also the Co-Founder Indigenous Children’s Hygiene Initiative. In 2015, The City of Albany recognised the work wer dedication by Carol over decades in Albany by renaming the Albany Town Hall after her. As a Justice of the Peace, Carol is involved with the Mubarn Maaman as an advocate for social justice on behalf of Noongar moort. She has authored several books to promote and preserve Noongar language and culture. Carol’s passion is the reconstruction of an Indigenous interpretive trail to honour the Gnudju women. These women walked from Esperance to Albany and back to supported their husbands who were taken from Esperance and jailed in Albany for breaching the WA Native Welfare act of 1905 (masters and servants act for insorbordination). The reconstruction of the trail will trace the footsteps of these brave women and breathe life into their traditional walk trail. Carol’s other passion is ensuring that her grandchildren and great-grandchildren have the opportunity to embrace their language and culture through traditional experiences.
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Mali Moir
Scientific Illustration / Botanical Illustration Workshops
Mali Moir has an extensive history in scientific illustration and field naturalist projects, an award-winning Botanical, Scientific and Natural History Artist and teacher who began her career at the National Herbarium of Victoria as a major contributor to Flora of Victoria and other scientific publications. By working closely with botanists, Mali has gained an understanding of the importance of scientific accuracy and the fundamentals of precise and thorough depiction of details. Mali’s field experiences include Expedition Artist with Museum Victoria & French Natural History Museum’s ‘Our Planet Revisited PNG’. In Australia she led ‘Beckler’s Botanical Bounty’ a 10-year project encompassing Art Science History & Country where dedicated enthusiasts re-collected, documented & illustrated plant species originally collected on the Burke & Wills expedition in 1860. Currently Mali works in collaboration with artist Ben Beeton on the Genestreaming Sculpture Australia wide project. Co-founder of Art of Nature School, developing online teaching programs focusing on natural history art and nature journaling to promote the value of engaging in the richness of our natural world. Mali’s interest in conservation and threatened species documentation contributes to her belief that ‘artists make science visible’. Working in the Accurate Realism style, Mali combines her fascination for the natural sciences with an active desire to render works of art with beauty, character and scientific integrity.
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Dr Noel Nannup OAM
Project Ambassador, Cultural Consultant
Dr Noel Nannup OAM is a well-respected Nyoongar Elder. He created the map of the Dreaming Trails of the South West and is a heritage consultant. He has been named NAIDOC Male Elder of the Year, and is ECU’s Elder in Residence. He is a known story teller and cultural guide, instructor and mentor. Throughout Noel’s life he has worked to promote public awareness of the importance of caring for the environment. His career has been dedicated to educating young Western Australians about the rich cultural heritage of Aboriginal people and their lands; and, throughout that process, Noel has played an active and leading role in reconciliation. He has presented with Professor Steve Hopper on SYNERGIES: Walking Together – Belonging to Country.
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Gary Muir
Phylogenetic Tree Research for the Genestreaming Journey Sculptures, Science Communicator
Gary Muir has, for the past 25 years, eco-guide Gary Muir has run the famous WOW Wilderness Eco-Cruises in the heart of the Walpole Nornalup National Park and the Walpole and Nornalup Inlets Marine Park. Through his business and connection with the community, his is able to share his passion for this remarkable part of the world which he and his family have been connected to for generations. Gary won the FACET Golden Guide Award in 2003 after nearly a decade of guiding with WOW Wilderness Eco-Cruises. Gary is a Parks Ambassador. Gary was involved in the development of the Valley of Giants Tree Top Walk.
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Mark Hewson
Sculptures Construction Project Manager
Mark Hewson has a long history in designing and building public artworks in the region. He is also the co-owner of Torbay Glass Studios. In 2006 Mark was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to study architectural glass techniques in Iceland, Europe, America and New Zealand. Mark and Paris are members of Australian and international glass societies.
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Dr Alan Briggs
President of GeoParks WA – Auspicing body for the project / Project Ambassador
After 40 years in Western Australian government working in forestry, land conservation and management; recreation and tourism; a 3-year appointment as Policy Officer (Forests) to the Minister for Forests, and 5-years managing the Natural Heritage program in the WA National Trust, Alan retired from the government in 2010. Using his MBA (Tourism, Edith Cowan University), Alan lectured in a range of tourism units at ECU from 1997, becoming an Adjunct Lecture in 2009. In 2010, Alan lectured full time in tourism at Murdoch University (2011), reappointed part time in 2012 to mid-2016. Alan established Natural Heritage and Culture (NHC) for consultancy work, is still a FACET member, and has strong interests in Eco-tourism, Geo-tourism, and Geo-parks as well as Indigenous engagement in land management, tourism and Geoparks. Alan studied towards a PhD (2012, Murdoch University) focusing on stakeholder perceptions of establishing a Geopark in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia.
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Professor Stephen Donald Hopper AC FLS FTSE
Project Ambassador, Scientific Consultant
Professor Stephen Donald Hopper AC FLS FTSE is a Western Australian botanist. He graduated in Biology, specialising in conservation biology and vascular plants. Hopper has written eight books, and has over 200 publications to his name. He was Director of Kings Park in Perth for seven years, and CEO of the Botanic Gardens and Parks Authority for five. He is currently Foundation Professor of Plant Conservation Biology at The University of Western Australia. He was Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 2006 to 2012. Professor Hopper collaborates with Noongar elders in the south-west to better understand through an ancient knowledge-system how “one of the richest cultures on the planet” interacts with the landscape. Here is author of the OCBIL (old, climatically buffered, infertile landscapes) theory and a strong supporter of the Gonwana Link program.
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Steve Parish OAM
Photographer, Naturalist, Author and Publisher
Steve is a passionate and highly motivational speaker, writer, teacher and photographic artist, and one of few Australian photographers who can look back over five-plus decades of photography across a range of Australian social and natural history subjects. Steve pioneered underwater nature photography with the Australian Museum, leading to his first publishing ventures in the late ’60s. He now manages the nation’s largest and most comprehensive privately owned photographic library; this vast resource has created all his projects. Steve started publishing in dive magazines in Australia and New Zealand at 18. Since then, he has shared his work with the Australian community through thousands of publications, talks, exhibitions, and public events. In 1985, Steve Parish launched the signature brand Steve Parish Publishing. Over thirty four years, Steve’s brand became a significant award-winning multimillion-dollar business. The team created an extensive Australian and Natural History publication program across many categories for all ages. Today, Steve resides in the Blackall Range on the Sunshine Coast Hinterland, where he and his partner are building an autonomous family community. From his digital studio, he and his family steer Steve Parish – Nature Connect, an internet portal that offers publishing, library services, fine art decor, and photographic education Australia-wide.