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

Key Points:

• Artist Kirsha Kaechele has launched OnlyFerns, an OnlyFans platform featuring forest-themed adult videos set in Tasmanian sawmills and forests, aiming to raise funds to protect ancient forests by paying forestry workers to create boardwalks and artwork instead of logging.
• The project involves collaboration between conservationists, scientists, indigenous elders, and the forestry industry, with production costs and payments covered by Kaechele and Mona museum founder David Walsh, seeking to create a pragmatic economic model for forest conservation.
• OnlyFerns has sparked controversy among environmental groups, with some criticizing the collaboration with the logging industry and arguing that it does not go far enough to prevent large-scale forest destruction.
• The initiative emerged from the Forest Congress, a forum founded by Kaechele to foster dialogue between stakeholders, and uses provocative adult content to engage audiences and highlight the complex power dynamics in Tasmania’s forestry debate.
• Despite mixed reactions, OnlyFerns premiered in Melbourne with a feature-length film mixing erotic scenes and environmental messaging, emphasizing Kaechele’s philosophy of radical diplomacy and economic transition for sustainable forest management.