Tank 4
Join us for the exhibition launch in Tank 4 Gallery at 5:00pm, Sat 5 Dec - all welcome!
Communing attends to the silent, profound dialogues humans can share with the plant world.
Through a meditative drawing practice, Rose Watts explores the possibilities of interspecies communication. Drawing on data, sketches and recordings gathered at her Tanks Arts Centre residency (2025-26), Rose focused on the large fig tree (Ficus benjamina) in front of Tank 4. This tree, probably 60 to 65 years old, has grown amongst the man-made boundary of the Tanks. Returning to the same tree over many months the work unfolds through repetition, presence and the gradual accumulation of attention.
Time and attention become ways of approaching the boundaries between human and non-human experience. Through slow, observational drawing on site Rose’s practice becomes a form of relational practice, transforming perception into care, curiosity and responsibility as two species commune.
The installation is an invitation into a space of stillness and listening. Here, the plant world is not passive scenery but an intelligent, communicative presence, our reciprocal exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide, a reminder that human and plant lives are inextricably connected.
Image: A Conversation Between Forms (detail), mixed media on canvas by Rose Watts. Photograph by Lucy McIvor, 2026