The waters of the Goulburn River flow east past the great rock walls of the Drip, mirrored by the waters of the Cudgegong River flowing west. These rivers and their catchments are connected neither by shared hydrology nor by geomorphology but are profoundly connected by social, economic, cultural and environmental values and processes. My paintings connect the ‘human dimension’ and show how a brutal colonial ‘shadow history’ of terra nullius and dispossession has resurfaced and is inverted in co-operative campaigns created by local environmentalists and First Nations people to protect the area from the impacts of coal mining.
Source images courtesy Dr. Julia Mullins Imrie local land holder and Mudgee District Environment Group (MDEG)
Exhibition: Ngayirr Ngurrambang: Sacred Country
Curator: Aleshia Lonsdale
Venue: Mudgee Art Precinct
Dates: 23 September to 11 December 2022
Shadow Water, Making Australian Water Cultures Visible – https://www.fiona-macdonald.net//wp-content/uploads/2023/04/shadow-water-making-australian-water-cultures-visible.pdf
Surface Tension: Shadow Waters 1
water colour on paper, size 530 x 710 mm
Surface Tension: Shadow Waters 2
water colour on paper, size 530 x 710 mm
Surface Tension: Shadow Waters 3
water colour on paper, size 530 x 710 mm
Surface Tension: Shadow Waters 4
water colour on paper, size 530 x 710 mm
Surface Tension: Shadow Waters 5
water colour on paper, size 530 x 710 mm
Ngayirr Ngurambang: Sacred Country, Curator Aleshia Lonsdale Mudgee Art Precinct, Mudgee NSW 2022