Written in Wood - In Conversation

‘In Conversation’ with Kevin Perkins and Richard Flanagan: A Celebration of Tasmania’s Stories

The highly anticipated ‘In Conversation’ event featuring two of Tasmania’s most iconic cultural figures — artist Kevin Perkins AM and acclaimed author Richard Flanagan — has sold out of its 140 ticket capacity within days, demonstrating the enduring appetite for Tasmania’s stories and the impact of these two masters.

The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery’s (TMAG) event, facilitated by awarded Tasmanian designer Megan Perkins — Chair of Design Tasmania and Kevin’s daughter — promises a deeply personal and insightful dialogue between two lifelong friends whose work has profoundly shaped how Tasmanians see themselves and their place in the world. Although audiences can no longer attend live, the conversation will be recorded, giving everyone the opportunity to hear from these legendary Tasmanians.

Visitors can also experience Kevin Perkins’ exhibition, Written in Wood: Kevin Perkins inspired by Richard Flanagan, on display at TMAG until 30 March 2025. Featuring five monumental sculptural benches, each inspired by one of Flanagan’s celebrated novels, are crafted from Tasmania’s specialty timbers.

Showcasing salvaged Tasmanian minor timber species Blackwood and Huon Pine, a very rare Tasmanian wood prized for its lustrous golden hues. As Perkins reflects, “When I grew up, I didn’t know Tasmania was unique. I realised this when I travelled… I occupied a small vacuum that no-one had sat in before, and that local pantry of woods and our stories were special to me. Those wonderful Tasmanian novels of Flan’s I’ve re-interpreted out of great respect for his genius — he’s taken Tasmania’s uniqueness to a huge new awareness.”

Richard Flanagan, the first writer to win both of Britain’s major fiction and non-fiction prizes, has brought Tasmania’s stories to a global audience, and his international influence continues to grow, with a TV miniseries based on his Booker Prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North set to hit screens in April. Directed by Justin Kurzel (Snowtown, Nitram) and starring Jacob Elordi, the series is poised to bring one of Flanagan’s most prominent stories to a wider global audience.

Flanagan’s novels, rich with the island’s landscapes and histories, have inspired Perkins’ creations for Written in Wood, celebrating a shared love of Tasmania, of craft and appreciation of the island’s natural heritage and its people. A shared influence is also evident, as Flanagan notes, “Strange as it sounds, it was Kev, a furniture maker and designer, descendant of a convict carpenter-joiner, who taught me so much about writing — how to be a writer; how to fuse love and passion seamlessly with work; the necessity of never accepting imperfection; the need to resolve small details as well as large. He also taught me how to live well on little by valuing friendship over fashion, how all art is finally craft, and the importance of structure, as vital in a good cabinet as in a good novel.”

Exhibition Details:
Written in Wood: Kevin Perkins inspired by Richard Flanagan
On display at TMAG until 30 March 2025
Proudly supported by the Mountain Air Foundation