Holly Story takes us on a slow, attentive journey through the Heathcote Lower Lands, from Derbal Yaragan (the Swan River) to the built heritage of the former Heathcote Mental Reception Home. Rather than privileging the familiar vantage point from the manicured gardens, she asks us to look below the surface—literally and metaphorically. Through her river videos, we follow a lone figure wading through water and encounter a submerged, sublime landscape that might otherwise remain unseen. Accompanied by Jennifer Kornberger’s poetic words, Story moves beyond what is immediately visible, revealing the layered histories and environments that shape this place.

The journey is also one through time. Story draws on materials and techniques used by the original inhabitants of Derbal Yaragan, weaving Riparian Charms from local reeds that grow where land meets water. Her practice—patiently observing, gathering and transforming natural fibres, dyes and leaves—brings the outside in, asking us to pause and reconsider what is often overlooked. The site itself holds complex histories: named by Captain James Stirling after midshipman G. C. Heathcote, yet long known to Noongar people as Goolyagatup, a place of initiation. Story’s work quietly acknowledges these intertwined narratives of learning, belonging and transition.

Central to the exhibition is the Banksia woodland of the Lower Lands. Using the leaves of local species in Familiar Landscape, Story highlights both their ecological significance and their vulnerability. Once tagged and catalogued in scientific studies, these trees become, in her hands, agents with presence and voice. The work offers a memento mori—reminding us of environmental loss and the passing of time—yet it also gestures toward renewal. In a landscape shaped by both holding on and letting go, Story invites us to recognise fragility, celebrate resilience and imagine possible futures rooted in care and attention.