Rolling In The Deep

2019. Video installation, cotton, mud, river-stones, concrete, digital prints on pearl paper.

This series of work was conducted on residency at UNSW Fowlers Gap research station, following on from a work created during a residency in Broken Hill in late 2018, 'The Silver Paddock'. This body including Oh Darling…, Hose ‘er Down Love, and Rolling In The Deep revolve around the central theme of water, and the decline of this resource.

In Australia, particularly New South Wales and Queensland, we have been experiencing record breaking heat during summer, followed record breaking dryness during winter. (Climate Change and Drought fact-sheet - June 2018.) These works explore the stark contrasts of the rural and urban environments and lifestyles. More often than not, we as Sydney siders take our seemingly endless and clean supply of water for granted, on the second driest continent in the world. 'Oh darling...' and 'Hose 'er down love!' are taking aspects of the life of the upper-class city-slicker, humorously living their life out west, watering their garden, putting on a face mask and sunbathing with a cocktail in hand, and displaying the stark contrasts in ways of life. In the desert, every drop counts. 

'Rolling in the deep' looks at these issues in a more serious way. The relational installation, designed to be disorientating and painful, is meant to show audience the world from the point of view of mother nature. As you step onto the sharp rocks in the gallery, you are transported to Fowlers Gap. A white mass rolls over the sharp rocks of a dry creek bed, as though flowing through the space like water. However, instead of seamlessly flowing through the space, the action is jagged and painful, and replaying endlessly on repeat. These actions, alongside the photographic evidence of these actions, bring forth notions of suffering and abuse, yet also willingness to persist, and survive.