Techniques of Communication and Collaboration Between Plants and People
Tuesday, 19 March 2024, 4-6pm EEST (Helsinki) Online (Zoom)
Free Public Seminar
Encountering Plant Sentience
View seminar recording by clicking on above image or visiting <www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1zW-QbpTGI>
Image Credit: Francis Joy ©
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The idea of plant sentience suggests the capacity of plants for communication, memory, empathy, and other intelligent qualities. What are the creative, educational, social, and health implications of recognising plants as sentient?
Dr Francis Joy of the University of Lapland Arctic Centre and Dr John C. Ryan of Southern Cross University, Australia, hosted a two-hour online seminar Encountering Plant Sentience on Spring Equinox, 19 March 2024, from 4-6pm Eastern European Standard Time (EEST). The interactive seminar introduced participants to enjoyable techniques of connecting to the mysteries of the botanical world.
The seminar was offered as part of Gifts from the Sentient Forest with support from the Kone Foundation’s ‘In the Woods’ funding program. In 2024 and 2025, the project develops creative approaches to Northern Finland’s forests. It endeavours to understand how recognising the botanical world in contexts other than exploitation can illuminate ways in which plant life and forests rejuvenate human-nature relationships and sustain the Earth.
Francis Joy is a photographer, researcher, and Druid based in Rovaniemi, Finland, with an interest in pareidolia (the recognition of meaningful patterns, shapes and forms in nature). For more information about Francis Joy’s work visit: https://research.ulapland.fi/en/persons/francis-joy.
John C. Ryan is a poet and researcher based in New South Wales, Australia, who focuses on the senses, plants, and creative writing. For more information about his work, see www.johncharlesryan.com.