Unsettled Living

Holly Clark-Milligan

Exhibition Dates:
Saturday 6 June – Monday 29 June, 2026
Viewable 24/7

Some scientists are trying to bring back the thylacine.
It’s an attempt at uplifting news, but I cannot shake the feeling
that these are not good things.
A distraction, or a remedy for a guilty conscience.

The dead rest, whilst we,
the Unsettled Living,
continue to rot.

–––––

It is difficult in western culture to process ecological grief without the same structures that exist for human death. In this, creating becomes a solace.

Through using common, often introduced flowers to construct imitations of critically endangered and extinct lutruwitan/Tasmanian orchids, Unsettled Living emulates the act of species resurrection. The re-animated figures become haunted amalgamations of introduced colonial species which have spread to conceal their loss.

Originally presented as large-scale projections, Unsettled Living has been adapted to suit an intimate display. The audio is edited from recordings of Australian church bells signalling the death of a monarch.