habitat (2026)
Collaboration between Annelies Jahn and Jane Burton Taylor
Habitat - the place where we live
August 5 th to September 27 th
Wednesday to Sunday 10-4
La Perouse Museum, The Cable Station,
1542 Anzac Parade, La Perouse.
Habitat is derived from the Latin habitare - to live/ to dwell/ to inhabit. Its scientific meaning was initiated in 1762 by Carl Linnaeus, the 18 th century naturalist who established Latin naming (still in use.) The word took on the meaning of a region where a plant or animal naturally grows or lives.
Habitat is an exhibition which explores, through sensory and immersive artworks, the pre-colonial ecology of traditional Dharawal Lands. Collaborating artists Annelies Jahn and Jane Burton Taylor work directly with endemic plants in La Perouse, Sydney, Australia, researching and making artworks that heighten their own, and by invitation others, sensitivity to the intrinsic nature of the country on which we live.
In Habitat, the pair collaborate with the Critically Endangered Banksia Scrub Plant Community (ESBS), that once covered the La Perouse headland- adjacent to the original landing of Captain Cook and the site where Banks and Solander took their first samples of native Australian plants. The ESBS originally extended north unbroken as far as Manly, and it still survives in remnants, including the Kamay Botany Bay National Park at la Perouse.
They work directly with the plants; growing some rare grasses from seed, distilling to record and share the intense scent of flowering endemic plants; recording a contemporary version of a herbarium in scans of seeds, flowers and leaves; creating a living artwork; and other methods of isolating characteristics to facilitate and intensify a physical experience of the pre-colonial Habitat.
Their research extends to the immediate waterways off shore from La Perouse and the endangered sea grass meadows of the Posidonia australis that ring the peninsular and run north along the coast. This lesser seen sea ‘flora’ provides oxygen to the ocean and sequesters large amounts of carbon.
The exhibition will be opened by La Perouse elder Aunty Maxine Ryan, who is the artists’ indigenous consultant for Habitat. It runs from August to September and includes workshops, an artist’s talk and immersive events, as well as a closing event at which the living artwork will be given away to visitors, to replant and so further support habitat for local fauna.
The artists would like to acknowledge the support of Aunty Maxine Ryan, also the Gamay Rangers and local Indigenous nursery, IndigiGrow, for guidance and assistance, and the researchers of UNSW Operation Posidonia for their generous sharing of knowledge and resources.
August 5 th to September 27 th
Wednesday to Sunday 10-4
La Perouse Museum, The Cable Station,
1542 Anzac Parade, La Perouse.
Habitat is derived from the Latin habitare - to live/ to dwell/ to inhabit. Its scientific meaning was initiated in 1762 by Carl Linnaeus, the 18 th century naturalist who established Latin naming (still in use.) The word took on the meaning of a region where a plant or animal naturally grows or lives.
Habitat is an exhibition which explores, through sensory and immersive artworks, the pre-colonial ecology of traditional Dharawal Lands. Collaborating artists Annelies Jahn and Jane Burton Taylor work directly with endemic plants in La Perouse, Sydney, Australia, researching and making artworks that heighten their own, and by invitation others, sensitivity to the intrinsic nature of the country on which we live.
In Habitat, the pair collaborate with the Critically Endangered Banksia Scrub Plant Community (ESBS), that once covered the La Perouse headland- adjacent to the original landing of Captain Cook and the site where Banks and Solander took their first samples of native Australian plants. The ESBS originally extended north unbroken as far as Manly, and it still survives in remnants, including the Kamay Botany Bay National Park at la Perouse.
They work directly with the plants; growing some rare grasses from seed, distilling to record and share the intense scent of flowering endemic plants; recording a contemporary version of a herbarium in scans of seeds, flowers and leaves; creating a living artwork; and other methods of isolating characteristics to facilitate and intensify a physical experience of the pre-colonial Habitat.
Their research extends to the immediate waterways off shore from La Perouse and the endangered sea grass meadows of the Posidonia australis that ring the peninsular and run north along the coast. This lesser seen sea ‘flora’ provides oxygen to the ocean and sequesters large amounts of carbon.
The exhibition will be opened by La Perouse elder Aunty Maxine Ryan, who is the artists’ indigenous consultant for Habitat. It runs from August to September and includes workshops, an artist’s talk and immersive events, as well as a closing event at which the living artwork will be given away to visitors, to replant and so further support habitat for local fauna.
The artists would like to acknowledge the support of Aunty Maxine Ryan, also the Gamay Rangers and local Indigenous nursery, IndigiGrow, for guidance and assistance, and the researchers of UNSW Operation Posidonia for their generous sharing of knowledge and resources.