What We Can Learn from Nature: Australian Museum x Vivid Ideas

Event: 5pm - 9pm

Talk: 6.30pm - 8pm

Ages: Recommended for ages 16+

Nature speaks, but are we listening? Hear from photographic artist and activist, Leila Jeffreys, renowned naturalist, Tim Low, and author, David Gandelman, as they explore how improving your relationship with nature can, in turn, improve your relationship with yourself.

Drawing from personal experiences, the panel will invite you into a more mindful space and ask you to reconsider how we interact with the world around us. From creatures big and small, there is plenty we can learn. Hear how Leila’s work as a photographic and installation artist has deepened her understanding of the importance of interconnection and belonging for all living things. Discover invaluable insights into the natural world and its relationship to us as Tim shares his learnings from decades of research and writing (including best-seller books Where Song Began, Feral Future and The New Nature). Add in David’s practical approach to mindfulness and this is sure to be a perspective-shifting evening.

Join us for a reinvigorated discussion about the relationship between art, nature and purpose, and the deep seated importance of protecting and listening to nature.

After the talk, enjoy music, a drink at the pop-up bar and the chance to explore our incredible galleries after hours.

Leila Jeffreys is an Australian contemporary artist represented by Olsen Gallery, Sydney. Best known for visceral and mysterious images of birds that explore and subvert the traditions of portraiture, increasingly, Leila’s work as an artist is inextricable from her concerns as an environmentalist.

Leila has held solo exhibitions in Hong Kong, New York, London and Sydney, and over the last 18 months her work has been exhibited in Los Angeles, Stockholm, Paris, Talin, Toulouse, Istanbul, and Brussels. Leila has published three books including award winning Birdland.

Tim Low is an ecologist and best-selling author of seven books. His Where Song Began became the first nature book ever to win the Australian Book Industry Award for best General Non Fiction. Feral Future inspired the formation of a conservation group, the Invasive Species Council.

Tim has written reports about climate change impacts on nature for the Australian and Queensland governments. He has worked as a nature guide in Australia and Borneo. As a teenager he discovered new lizard species, including one that he named and one that was named after him.

David Gandelman is a spiritual teacher, author and guide, whose mission is to awaken souls on their path of growing into being human, and living an enlightened, purpose-driven life. He is the founder of the Meditation School app and host of the Meditation School, Energy Matters, and Grounded Sleep podcasts. His meditations have been streamed millions of times.

David holds a B.A. in Western philosophy from Rutgers University, which combined with his studies in Eastern spiritual traditions living in the Himalayas, as well as his experience as the director of a school for intuitive development and mysticism in Hawaii, informs a teaching style that connects energetic experience, ancient wisdom traditions, and humor in order to create a safe atmosphere for people interested in learning to meditate and develop into their potential.