Lightscape

Artist: Jeanine Leane, Wiradjuri

“We each have seeds of hope
And seeds of fear
Inside us
We choose the ones
We will nurture
And grow”

“Seasons of despair
Provide fertile ground
To plant seeds of resilience
And grow
Future
Solutions”

“Nothing grows
Without a seed
Nothing changes
Without growth
Seeds
Are custodians
Of change”

“It is the nature of seeds
To know
When to be still
And when to break open
And rise into action”

– Jeanine Leane

“Seeds of Hope gave me the opportunity to reflect and respond creatively to something that has been at the forefront of my mind – as I’m sure it has for others for many years now. And that is climate change, global warming and the need to care for Country around us.
Listening to Country first helped me to formulate words that would speak to the need for change, nurture and hope.
Seeds encapsulate what the future can be; they are a poignant symbol and reminder of how we can grow and change ourselves, and nurture and tend the future as it grows around us.
It is my hope that all those who wander past will pause and reflect on change, resilience, nurture, hope, and care for Country for the future.”

– Dr Jeanine Leane (Wiradjuri)

Written by award-winning Wiradjuri poet Dr Jeanine Leane, these poems were originally commissioned by Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria as part of the signage & interpretation at the new Australian Drylands collection. Jeanine’s words are brought to life as text sculptures within that landscape.

For Lightscape, the poetry is recreated as a light installation.  In all versions, the work explores Seeds of Hope for the future. The four poems – Hope, Resilience, Change and Action – invite visitors to reflect on the power of choices in shaping the future of the planet, plants and people. 

To hear more from Jeanine and learn about the Australian Drylands, listen to Sonica Botanica: Australian Drylands reflecting on change through an exploration of Australia’s dryland plants, their marvellous adaptations and the hope they inspire in a changing climate.

Sonica Botanica is a series of audio experiences created by Patrick Cronin. Each episode responds to people, places and plants at Melbourne Gardens. Best experienced through your headphones whilst visiting Melbourne Gardens. 

Jeanine Leane is a Wiradjuri writer, poet and academic from southwest New South Wales. Her poetry, short stories, critique, and essays have been published in Australian Poetry Journal, Antipodes, Westerly, Cordite Review Overland and the Sydney Review of Books. Jeanine has published widely in the areas of Aboriginal literature, writing otherness, literary critique, and creative non-fiction. Jeanine was the recipient of the University of Canberra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Poetry Prize, and she has won the Oodgeroo Noonucal Prize for Poetry twice (2017 & 2019). She was the 2019 recipient of the Red Room Poetry Fellowship for her project called Voicing the Unsettled Space: Rewriting the Colonial Mythscape. In 2020 Jeanine edited Guwayu – for all times – a collection of First Nations Poetry commissioned by Red Room Poetry and published by Magabala Books. In 2021 she was the recipient of the School of Literature Art and Media (SLAM) Poetry Prize University of Sydney. In 2023 Jeanine was the winner of the David Harold Tribe Prize for poetry. She also co-edited an anthology of First Nations lyric nonfiction Shapeshifting released by UQP in 2024. She taught Creative Writing and Aboriginal Literature at the University of Melbourne from 2016 ‑2024. Jeanine’s collection of poetry, Gawimarra gathering (UQP 2024) won the 2025 Victorian Premier’s Literary Award for Poetry and was shortlisted for the Kenneth Slessor Prize at the NSW Literary Awards 2025.