Image: Anne Zahalka, Reef Theatre with Ethel King (detail), 2024. Courtesy the artist and Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney and ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne.
Image: CEAD Panel 2025
Join three of Australia’s leading creative and environmental thinkers: Andy Marks, Anne Zahalka and Marnie Ogg for a timely discussion around our symbiotic future.
Over the past three years, MAG&M’s CEAD (Collective for Environmental Art & Design) initiative has explored creative responses to climate change, collective action, biodiversity and sustainability in the art and design sectors. In 2026, we turn our focus to symbiosis, exploring how we can move beyond ideas of human impact and instead embrace models of mutual exchange, interdependence and living in harmony with nature.
Moderated by Dr Jonathan Webb, Science Editor ABC Radio National, the speakers will reflect on how symbiosis is a practical framework for action and a powerful cultural narrative enabling people to see new possibilities, develop symbiotic relationships between people, nature and the spaces we inhabit and inspire new ways to create a more connected, sustainable and thriving future.
Framed by CEAD’s principles - Act, Connect, Learn - the event aims to foster a dynamic and productive conversation, sparking tangible ideas for environmental stewardship and broadening our understanding of the intersections between art, design, science, and the natural world. This event is part of the 2026 Environmental Art & Design Prize.
This event is free and includes welcome drink.
About the speakers:
Andy Marks
Andy Marks is Founder and Executive Director of the Symbiocene Institute, a new not-for-profit driving nature-positive decision making by applying symbiosis as a practical framework for action and a motivating cultural narrative. In Australia he has advised the NSW Government (air quality, net zero and repair and reuse), originated the Fix and Make festival and was impact advisor for ABC’s War on Waste. Previously he spent eighteen years as Founder and CEO of two UK-based companies, including a pioneering circular economy social enterprise transforming end-of-life luxury hotel bed linen into hotel room amenities, sleepwear and premium tote bags.
Image courtesy Andy Marks.
Anne Zahalka
Anne Zahalka is a one of Australia’s most recognised photo-media artists, with a career spanning over 40 years. In the last 20 years Zahalka’s work has focussed on the environment and the ecological crisis as it has unfolded. Working with conservationists, scientists, curators and photographers, she incorporates new data to set out alternative ways of seeing the landscape and the damage that has been wreaked on it. Zahalka's work explores unsettling ethical and environmental issues and reflects on the changing relationships between people and the natural world. Her work is included in all major museums in Australia, and she has held more than 40 solo exhibitions and has been curated into exhibitions across the world; including the Australian Embassy in Washington, the Metropolitan Museum of Photography, Tokyo and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, South Korea.
Image: Photograph by Ben Dowd courtesy Anne Zahalka
Marnie Ogg
Marnie Ogg is the founder of the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance (ADSA) and a passionate advocate for the preservation of dark skies. Marnie is dedicated to raising awareness about the harmful effects of light pollution on wildlife, human health, and the environment and works tirelessly to protect natural nightscapes through education, advocacy, and citizen science initiatives. Her efforts have helped establish Australia’s first Dark Sky Park in the Warrumbungle National Park and the first Urban Night Sky Place at Palm Beach, Sydney. She has been recognised twice by Dark Sky International with the prestigious Dark Sky Defender award. Her work combines science, conservation, and public engagement, making her a leading voice in the global effort to combat light pollution and safeguard the nocturnal environment for future generations.
Image courtesy Marnie Ogg.
Dr Jonathan Webb
Dr Jonathan Webb is the Science Editor at ABC Radio National where he presents Lab Notes, a weekly science program. Here, Jonathan also manages a team of journalists and producers and is behind several award-winning podcasts, including; Science Friction, Pacific Scientific, What the Duck?!, Patient Zero, the poll to find Australia's Favourite Tree, Wildlife Spotter, and Hoot Detective. Jonathan is also a lapsed neuroscientist with a PhD from Oxford and previously worked as a science reporter at BBC News. Here, he covered the Paris Climate Summit, the New Horizons flyby of Pluto and the re-start of the Large Hadron Collider.
Image courtesy Jonathan Webb.
Pricing
Free
Location
Manly Art Gallery & Museum 1a West Esplanade
Manly NSW 2095