Can pornography help save Tasmania’s rainforests? Kirsha Kaechele hopes so

The forestry workers took unusual care as they picked their way through the mossy undergrowth of a Tasmanian forest, carrying furries - humans in animal suits that can cost thousands of dollars. Hired as production crew for the day, they were more used to hearing the drone of heavy logging machinery than the moans of animal lust. Once the furries were in place, the director closed the set so they could film their group sex scene in private.

This tableau is one of 12 featured in OnlyFerns, Kaechele's "artwork-cum-economic engine intended to protect Tasmania's ancient forests." Known by the Museum of Old and New Art (Mona) as its first lady, Kaechele will be familiar to readers who followed her captivating 2024 discrimination case against the Mona's Ladies Lounge.

Unique conservation approach

OnlyFerns is an OnlyFans portal through which people pay to view forest-themed kink videos set in Tasmanian sawmills and forests. The revenue is intended to compensate forest workers for not felling trees; instead, they will be paid to create boardwalks and artwork in the logging coupes of old growth forests.

Mona and Kaechele covered all production costs, including paying the creators and crew for the videos, and producing an accompanying documentary and book. "Ensuring that there are no hours lost is critical to the success of the project," Kaechele says. "Most environmental campaigns have set up an us-them scenario, where workers are excluded from protection. That is not pragmatic, it ruffles feathers. And it is inelegant."

Industry collaboration controversy

Sustainable Timber Tasmania, formerly Forestry Tasmania, said they are "having discussions with Mona about their ambitions in relation to forest management" but remain mindful of their charter as a Government Business Enterprise. They praised Kirsha's project as "an amazing initiative that has brought stakeholders together and created time and space for an important conversation about forests and timber production."

However, environmental groups have raised questions about collaborating with the logging industry. The Wilderness Society released a heated statement against collaborating with the logging industry, who they said had taken zero steps ... to correct their poor commercial and industrial practices. The Bob Brown Foundation called the project a "pro-logging plan," arguing that Kaechele's agreement with loggers to protect "3 or 4%, labelled 'old growth' by the industry, leaves 96% of the forests to be clear-felled and incinerated along with their wildlife."

"Ending this tragedy is not performance art," the statement continued. "It is a huge and serious challenge for Tasmania and Australia in an age of unprecedented environmental destruction."

Creative conservation strategy

Kaechele has a knack for playful approaches to environmental issues, with one recent example being Eat the Problem: a feast, cookbook and ABC TV series focused on turning maligned native species into spectacular dishes. For OnlyFerns, she looked to the simple premise that sex sells.

Around twenty OnlyFans content creators flew into Burnie for their shoots, accommodated by a town local to the sawmills. One creator, Kellie Panther, who has a forked tongue among other body modifications, recalls boarding the small plane and looking around at the other passengers as everyone offered a knowing, "Oh, hey."

Kaechele justifies the focus on old-growth forests: "We are selecting forests for which there is no doubt [on either side]. This is in the interest of building consensus, and of protecting the most precious irreplaceable and ancient ecosystems. Forests no one wants to see fall."