Archive of Author | Louise Fowler Smith

About Louise Fowler Smith

Louise Fowler-Smith is an environmental artist, researcher, and the Founder and President of the Tree Veneration Society Inc. For decades, her practice and research have centred on the Sacred Tree and the ways in which veneration and honouring can lead to the protection of trees, particularly in countries such as India. Her work asks whether artists can inspire a re-envisioning of the environment through aesthetics, and whether a sense of sacredness can be conveyed through artistic vision without transplanting specific religious ideologies. As Louise states: “How we perceive and contemplate the land effects how we treat the land. If we see the land as separate from ourselves, we are less likely to honour and respect it.” Louise taught at COFA UNSW for 30 years, where she developed some of the faculty’s earliest transdisciplinary environmental art courses. As an environmental artist, she has exhibited nationally and internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle in France, Portraits d’Arbres Remarquables Illuminés, and two solo exhibitions in Italy. She continues to exhibit annually in group exhibitions and has participated in over 50 exhibitions since 1996. Louise’s most recent work focuses on endangered and extinct plant species—plants that, in the 21st century, can no longer be encountered or photographed in the wild, largely due to human intervention, including anthropogenic climate change. Through sculpture and painting, she seeks to reveal their beauty, profundity, and loss, creating works that memorialise fragile and vanished forms of life. Her research into venerated trees in India led to the publication of 'Sacred Trees of India: Adornment and Adoration as an Alternative to the Commodification of Nature' (Cambridge Scholars Publishing). She has also published essays in international peer-reviewed journals and books, and presented her research at conferences in Australia, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, and the United States. For more information please visit https://www.louisefowlersmith.com/

Louise Fowler-Smith is an environmental artist, researcher, and the Founder and President of the Tree Veneration Society Inc. For decades, her practice and research have centred on the Sacred Tree and the ways in which veneration and honouring can lead to the protection of trees, particularly in countries such as India. Her work asks whether artists can inspire a re-envisioning of the environment through aesthetics, and whether a sense of sacredness can be conveyed through artistic vision without transplanting specific religious ideologies.

As Louise states:
“How we perceive and contemplate the land effects how we treat the land. If we see the land as separate from ourselves, we are less likely to honour and respect it.”

Louise taught at COFA UNSW for 30 years, where she developed some of the faculty’s earliest transdisciplinary environmental art courses. As an environmental artist, she has exhibited nationally and internationally, including a solo exhibition at the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle in France, Portraits d’Arbres Remarquables Illuminés, and two solo exhibitions in Italy. She continues to exhibit annually in group exhibitions and has participated in over 50 exhibitions since 1996.

Louise’s most recent work focuses on endangered and extinct plant species—plants that, in the 21st century, can no longer be encountered or photographed in the wild, largely due to human intervention, including anthropogenic climate change. Through sculpture and painting, she seeks to reveal their beauty, profundity, and loss, creating works that memorialise fragile and vanished forms of life.

Her research into venerated trees in India led to the publication of Sacred Trees of India: Adornment and Adoration as an Alternative to the Commodification of Nature (Cambridge Scholars Publishing). She has also published essays in international peer-reviewed journals and books, and presented her research at conferences in Australia, England, Ireland, France, Spain, Italy, Japan, India, and the United States.

For more information please visit https://www.louisefowlersmith.com/

 

Articles with Louise Fowler Smith

Tree Veneration in the Time of the Anthropocene: Why Trees Matter and Why a Cultural Response Matters Too

This article introduces the Tree Veneration Society (TVS), an interdisciplinary charity of eco-artists and scientists dedicated to fostering cultural and ecological awareness of trees. While scientific research clearly demonstrates the essential role of forests in climate regulation and biodiversity, the article argues that meaningful environmental action also requires shifts in perception, values, and cultural narratives. Drawing on Deep Ecology and eco-art practice, the article presents tree veneration as a relational framework that reconnects humans with the living world. TVS’s exhibitions, workshops, and public programs are discussed as practical models for cultivating ecological care and responsibility.

The Reenchantment of the Tree

The Reenchantment of the the Tree concentrates on images of trees found predominantly in the arid zone of far western NSW. Louise Fowler Smith layers or glazes light onto specially chosen trees, that may otherwise have been disregarded and ignored; concentrating on its individual qualities or personality. This process draws out the tree, making it special, individualistic, even sacred.