“BLOODLETTING (water-ways) and SMOKE CLOAK” by Libby Harward
Installation view of Libby Harward ‘BLOODLETTING (water-ways) and SMOKE CLOAK’ 2021 in 'Strange Weather' at UniSC Art Gallery
Title:
- BLOODLETTING (water-ways) and SMOKE CLOAK
Artist(s) and People Involved:
Exhibiting Artist(s):
Symposium:
Artist Statement:
Since time immemorial, the First Nations people of Australia have held cultural responsibilities to care for and sustain the waterways of this country. Since colonisation, water systems have been over-extracted, commodified and depleted. As a Quandamooka woman, Harward sees the ancient waterways and river systems as being in grief. For her people “water is our lifeblood and we need to protect and look after it, as it looks after us.”
‘BLOODLETTNG (water-ways)’ is a self-portrait that addresses water sovereignty for Aboriginal people. Split over three channels and placed on the ground, i the video Harward appears lying in a trench surrounded by PVC plumbing and hose pipes. A domestic garden sprinkler running water is on her torso and seemingly connected through her via her mouth. The video was projected onto a bed of mangrove and tea tree swamp mud mixed with the artist’s blood and rerecorded, a statement of the artist’s deep connection to culture, Country, and its waterways.
