Tools for Quiet Activism: Stephanie Doddridge

In this new exhibition inside the Museum of Economic Botany, visitors will see gardening as a powerful form of everyday action.

Artist Stephanie Doddridge is drawn to gardening as a way of understanding how humans relate to nature. 

In Tools for Quiet Activism, she shifts her focus from backyard to the field, drawing on her time  working with Bio.R., a grassroots environmental organisation that restores native habitats in heavily cleared country. 

Through small, repeated acts of repair on degraded land, a form of quiet activism emerges.

Stephanie reflects on this experience by crafting a ‘toolkit’ for ecological restoration including seed orchard plans, stitched plant identification lists, and compostable tools. Made from experimental bioplastics embedded with native seeds, her gardening tools become metaphors for regeneration. As the tools break down, they both return to the earth, and usher in new life. 

Stephanie’s imaginary, handmade toolkit reminds us that lasting environmental change grows from small, shared acts of care – quietly and over time. 

Artist Talk: Field Work as Quiet Activism 

29 August 2026

2:00pm to 3:00pm

Stephanie will speak about her relationship with ecological restoration specialists, Bio.R, who are remediating former agricultural sites in South Australia. 

She will share her experiences of making artworks that are meant to decompose, but which also need to meet the stringent bio-security standards of the Museum of Economic Botany. 

The talk will unpack her process, ideas and materials, and provide tactile examples for the audience to handle during and after the session.