Echoes of Empire

We regret to inform you that the lecture by Rosalea Monacella has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause and will share details of the rescheduled date as soon as they are confirmed. Thank you for your understanding.

Echoes of Empire

Commonwealth nations share entangled histories shaped by the British Empire’s consolidation of power through large-scale resource extraction, displacement, and the exploitation of migrant labour. The legacies of these systems can be witnessed in the landscapes across the Pacific, from the development of Canada’s forests to the plantations, ports and reclaimed grounds of Southeast Asia. This lecture examines how designers can engage with these shared histories to envision alternatives to regimes of perpetual growth.

The lecture focuses on Canada, a region currently experiencing glacial retreat, atmospheric rivers, droughts and wildfires. It follows the “All Red Line,” a corridor built alongside the Canadian Pacific Railway that facilitated communication and resource movement through state-controlled territory, an approach that still informs pipeline routing across unceded lands.

Drawing on a design research-based design studios, the lecture revisits the 1924 British Empire Exhibition at Wembley, which depicted Canada as a land of inexhaustible resource, and reinterprets its pavilions, gardens and convening rooms as constituting a counter-Empire exhibition situated within extractive geographies.

Rosalea Monacella is a registered Landscape Architect and Architect, faculty member at Harvard GSD, and honorary appointee at the University of Technology Sydney. She previously served as Program Director and Associate Professor at RMIT University. An award-winning educator and designer, her research explores landscape, resource extraction, energy infrastructures, and the relationship between land and colonial histories.