and opportunity to contribute to tangible
change. Perhaps it was because she knew
exactly why we were all there that her
words had such poignancy. The tone
was set, and throughout the day we were
continually reminded of the agency
of landscape.Like Briggs, Walter Hood of Hood Design
Studio based in Oakland, California,
emphasized the importance of seeing
himself in the city, in his case as an
African American man. For Hood, this
was about the importance of being free to
make choices – about “voice and choice.”
He asserted that we don’t know how to
talk about race and gender in landscape
architecture, and that there is a need to get
rid of normative values. For Hood, design
is about resistance, about being more than
just a service industry. His project, Double
Consciousness, a columnar sculpture to be
erected at Princeton University that reflects
on the complex legacy of former United
States president Woodrow Wilson, was
explicitly about accountability and calling
people out. In his practice, Hood seeks to
create fictitious landscapes that are also
authentic, where people want to question
where they are, why they’re there, and“What is your intention for being here?”
N’arweet Carolyn Briggs, Boon Wurrung
senior elder and chairperson and founder
of the Boon Wurrung Foundation asked as
she welcomed us to Country on that cool,
autumnal Melbourne day. She called on us,
the audience, to step away from “unreliable
sources and books,” and learn from our
environment by engaging with it through
our senses. She reminded us that we, as
designers of place, are “shaping culture,
engaging and informing [it] and celebrating
and protecting [it].” But, she continued,
“I don’t see me in the city” – a phrase
that has stayed with me ever since. While
having heard the sentiment shared before,
this was about context, about listening
in a room full of hundreds of people who
through their various engagements with
the built environment have the remit
the role of government. In a similar vein,
Sanitas Pradittasnee of Bangkok-based
practice Sanitas Studio spoke of a mythical
escapism, a space for the imagination,
how we choose to see and not to see, and
her desire to create spaces where people are
encouraged to think and question. Brisbane
practitioner Kevin O’Brien of BVN spoke
of the idea of a longer trajectory of practice
and the need for Indigenous voices to come
through. This was the meta-narrative to his
practice, and deeply located in culture.In her presentation, Jocelyn Chiew
from Monash University’s Buildings
and Property division offered not just a
description of practice, but an incitement
to practice, from the client’s perspective.
Refreshingly, she elucidated a career
pathway that is less well defined and
spoken of, attempting to break down
what she described as professional
isolation. Chiew encouraged us to consider
the multivalent nature of landscape
practice: the importance of processes of
procurement and advocating for design;
the enduring influence of strategic design-
driven processes; and the importance
of access to decision-makers and
governance structures.2019 Landscape Australia
Conference: Cultivating
New Agencies
Text Claire Martin
Photography Jessica Prince
01 0203