It is a profound dialogue between place and medium, where decisions around what was presented and how, are convincing and compelling. While it is politically charged given the environmental status of Kanamaluka, it also conveys a sense of history.”
Dave Carswell’s words about the artwork
This work continues my interest in the contestation of space along the kanamaluka / Tamar estuary. The impetus is a campaign urging the public and authorities to ‘Fix the mud’. Despite using the language of environmentalism, research reveals the campaign is being led primarily by entities with vested interest in the waterways. This conflict raises the idea of a socialised notion of ‘nature’ and encourages a critical understanding of what political, economic, and social interests dominate the discourse around the estuary’s current and future use.
The methodology involves producing landscape photographs and sitting the film at the tide line for a week before returning to the work and developing the sheets in my home studio The end results are markings, etchings, sedimentary influence, light leaks and algae burning onto the film and engaging a type of co-authorship over the final image.
The tidal.24: City of Devonport Tasmanian Art Award is a biennial, acquisitive award exhibited at the Devonport Regional Gallery. Artists were invited to submit 2 or 3-dimensional artworks that reflect on the theme of tidal – the natural, cultural, personal, or political concerns related to the sea and coastal regions.
This will be the 11th instalment of the award.
The Exhibition showcases 57 Artworks from 56 artists, that were preselected from 146 entries by Marnie Karmelita, Artistic Director, Ten Days on the Island, Dr. Julie Gough, Curator, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Dr Malcom Bywaters, Director, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Marnie Karmelita was unable to be a part of the final judging, final judging was completed by Dr Karen Hall, Lecturer in Art, School of Creative Arts and Media, UTAS, Dr. Julie Gough, Curator, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and Dr Malcom Bywaters, Director, Academy Gallery, University of Tasmania.
Dave Carswell, Flocculation #15 2023, Archival photographic print
