Exhibition Dates: 6 June - 15 August
Opening at Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre
Saturday 6 June, 6pm
Shaped by climate crisis, biodiversity collapse and ongoing ecological transformation Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler: Primary Succession reflects on how life reorganises itself after ecological rupture.
Grounded in long-term research into Melbourne and Greater Dandenong landscapes, the work examines a world shaped by colonial extraction, urban expansion and climate crisis. Through speculative ecologies, the artists imagine a future where eco-intelligence and ecological memory replace human-centred systems of control.
The artists explore environmental loss through the lens of one of the region’s most vital yet often misunderstood species: the grey-headed flying fox. Essential pollinators and seed dispersers, these nocturnal animals function as a keystone species whose survival is closely tied to the health and regeneration of entire ecosystems.
Sculptural forms, immersive scenography and atmospheric environments invite audiences into a world where biological and technological systems learn, remember and adapt together. Rather than offering utopian or apocalyptic visions, Primary Succession proposes regeneration as a continuous process of becoming, where resilience, memory and possibility coexist beyond human dominance across time, uncertainty and fragile planetary conditions shaped by collective ecological imagination today.
Walker Street Gallery and Arts Centre
Wednesday to Saturday, 11am-3pm
Read further information about the Opening Event on Saturday 6 June. Registrations will be opening soon.
Image credit: Wona Bae and Charlie Lawler, Primary Succession (detail), 2026. Courtesy of the artists.
Exhibitions and Public Program
Exhibition Opening • 6 June
About the artists
Wona Bae (South Korea) and Charlie Lawler (Australia)
Wona Bae (South Korea) and Charlie Lawler (Australia) are an artist duo. Their collaborative practice explores the complex interconnected relationships between humans and the ecosystems they inhabit. Bae and Lawler are interested in discourse surrounding environmental debate, interrogating the contradictory logics embedded within social, political and ecological structures.
Through installation, sculpture, data, video and archival media, their work traverses a line of inquiry spanning past, present, and future ecologies. Seeking to re-contextualise humans evolving relationship with the natural world. Bae and Lawler’s immersive installations deconstruct familiar forms, recasting natural systems and data, searching for new ways of making sense of the world.
Bae and Lawler’s recent curated exhibitions include Strata at the 3rd Bankstown Biennale, Sydney (2024-2025), Field of Vision at the Korean Cultural Centre,Sydney (2024), Present Being at Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart (2023/2024). Daily Archive at Gujung Art Center, Onyang Museum, South Korea (2022); The National 3: Australian Art Now at Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (2021), and En Route at Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne (2019/20).
Their recent solo exhibitions include Perimeters at Bruny NORTH, Tasmania (2025), Deep Time at Daine Singer, Melbourne (2024), Late at Passage Gallery, Sydney (2023) and Park Dream at Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale (2023). Other notable solo shows include Time Machine at Daine Singer, Melbourne (2023), and Happy Hour at Backwoods Gallery, Melbourne (2022).
In 2024, they were awarded the North Sydney Art Prize for Late and have been finalists in prestigious Australian art prizes, including the Deakin Contemporary Small Sculpture Award (2024), Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2024), and Wynne Prize (2022).
Opening Hours
| Day | Time slot | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday - Tuesday: | Closed | |||
| Wednesday - Saturday: | 11:00 am-3:00 pm | |||
| Sunday: | Closed | |||