Tree Story was conceived as a ‘forest of ideas’, bringing together artists’ projects from around the world to connect to critical environmental issues. At the foundation—or roots—of Tree Story were Indigenous ways of knowing and a recognition of trees as our ancestors.

Taking the expanded form of an exhibition, publication and podcast, and including a tree school, Tree Story shared stories about trees, including what they have witnessed. There was a particular focus on what we can learn from trees and from Country: about networks of cooperation, alternate pedagogical frameworks, long-term thinking and living sustainably. Works by pioneering environmental artists were recognised as well as contemporary actions and interventions to protect trees, forests and the greater environment.

Tree Story began by recognising the importance of trees and how intimately connected we are to them and them to us. It highlighted how our relationship with trees acts as a gauge of our wider relationality to the world around us: a relationship that requires the most careful tending.