Ban Creeks - Wet Lands

Bathurst Regional Art Gallery (BRAG) presents Ban Creeks - Wet Lands by Gustralia.

Contemplating the water's track through the landscape has become a real focus for my recent thoughts, and with that the observation that sometimes water is ill-considered in its journey through the landscape. The wetland provides the purpose of being the great incubator allowing insects and birdlife to grow and flourish while also being the great filter. Where rainwater is filtered of its nutrients and put into the soil allowing biology to feed upon, without such our soils are forever progressively stripped of these nutrients.

I have noticed that our wetlands are nil to non-existent and are often drained and removed for the purpose of either agricultural use, housing development or simply so the tractor does not get bogged.

I want to prod this departure back into the mind of the people and what a wetland is and where they exist. The statement ‘ban creeks’ pokes at the thought that perhaps where there is now an ephemeral creek was potentially a thriving wetland. The ‘wet lands’ phrase aims to stimulate a visual thought, putting the idea of a wet land into the view of the mind. The two together seem to fight for reason to exist while remaining esoteric enough to leave space to ponder upon.

The visuals that accompany the words are manipulated video sources from that of creeks, grasses and treetops, layered and processed to mimic that of the passage of water through the land and blended together in a dance battle for chaotic harmony.

Image: Gustralia, Ban Creeks - Wet Lands (still), 2025, HD single channel video, 12:23. Courtesy the artist.