Making Like a Forest: Xin Cheng and Adam Ben-Dror

Author: Arpi Dutta, Communications Manager

In Making Like a Forest, artist Xin Cheng and designer Adam Ben-Dror explore how kindness and care is embodied within two local communities: Common Unity Project Aotearoa and Manawa Karioi.

Xin Cheng and Adam Ben-Dror, Making like a Forest 2020 (install view) at The Dowse. Photo by Ted Whitaker.

Common Unity Project Aotearoa is a Te Awakairangi Hutt Valley-based initiative where farms sprout in schools and prison grounds and the harvests are made into children’s lunches by volunteers. Manawa Karioi, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington, is one of the region’s oldest reforestation projects, where land is restored to a forest ecosystem through collective effort to be enjoyed by native birds and humans alike. Filmed as single channel video with sound, Cheng and Ben-Dror follow the transformations that occur in both these initiatives, including composting, growing, foraging and harvesting.

The films are on display in From the Ground Up: Community, Cultivation and Commensality until 7 March 2021.

Made with support from Creative New Zealand and Te Whare Hēra Residency.