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Corin Dam, Namadgi National Park Residency, 2018

 

Statement

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Staying in the cottage overlooking the Corin Dam, the residency for me was all about water –from the clouds rolling over the hills and rain falling, to thinking about the way the landscape was submerged for the collection of Canberra water.

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In 2018 it was obvious that low rainfall had caused the water level to recede exposing a steep, barren slope around the rim. This delineated the volume of dark water from the surrounding bush. It also made apparent the way that the water had drowned all plant life.

While walking around the dam I picked up shards of shale and began drawing the plants that could have been there before the dam – white gouache silhouettes like ghosts of the plants that once were in the valley. “Dam Rim” maps the shape of the dam with drawings that evoke previous vegetation.

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Looking across the dam to Eucalypt forest and walking up Stockyard Spur on the other side of the dam I contemplated the connections between plants and water and wove a small tapestry that relates to Professor Graham Farquhar’s work on this topic. Dr Farquhar was awarded the Kyoto Prize for his work in "Development of Process-based Models of Photosynthesis and Their Contributions to the Science of Global Environmental Changes". The tapestry, “Water Use of Plants”, brings together the science and an impression of the natural environment. It won the Teitelbaum Second Place Award in Small Tapestry International, USA and is in a touring show there so is represented in the exhibition by a digital print.

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Exhibition: Tuggeranong Arts Centre, 2019