With global protests, diplomatic unrest, financial insecurity and natural disasters reported daily, it seems now more than ever that the plight of humanity is at the forefront of many people’s minds.

Once seen as a fringe movement, the sentiment and uncertainty of doomsday preppers has shifted to mainstream consumer culture and our urban contexts. While established power systems fail to address the great challenges of our time, preppers recognize that chaos also represents an opportunity.

Accompanying the Preppers exhibition at Fremantle Arts Centre join us for a panel discussion which brings together the artists, local political activists, preppers, sustainability experts and first nation perspectives to discuss alternative strategies and collective opportunities to prepare for our changing landscapes and uncertain futures.

Speakers

Shani Graham and her partner Tim are from Ecoburbia, a business aimed at giving people the sustainable skills they need to look forward to the future with hope in our unsustainable world. Their work ranges from presenting workshops on good solar house design at local councils, to inspiring corporate executives to introduce a worm farm to the office kitchen. Shani and Tim have quickly become two of Perth’s most well-known “Sustainability Gurus”.

Loren Kronemyer is an artist living and working in remote lutruwita (Tasmania), Australia. Her works span interactive and live performance, experimental media art, and large-scale worldbuilding projects exploring ecological futures and survival skills. Kronemyer has exhibited widely and participated in international residencies and festivals. She received the first Masters of Biological Arts Degree from SymbioticA Lab at the University of Western Australia, and is a PhD candidate at the University Of Tasmania.

Cassie Lynch is a writer, researcher and consultant living in Perth, Western Australia. She is currently researching a PhD in Creative Writing, investigating Noongar cultural memory of deep time events such as sea level changes and ice ages. She is a descendant of the Noongar people and belongs to the beaches on the south coast of Western Australia. She is a student of the Noongar language, and is the artistic director of Woylie Fest, an all-Aboriginal storytelling festival based in Fremantle.

Jesse Noakes is a writer, advocate and media coordinator for Extinction Rebellion WA, a civil disobedience movement raising consciousness about colonisation and the climate crisis.

Facilitated by Erin Coates, FAC Special Projects Curator