In 1972 an ancient glacial lake in the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area was flooded by the Serpentine Hydro impoundment; its distinctive pink quartzite beach lost beneath the surface. Following, Barrister Edward St John famously stated: “The day will come when our children will undo what we so foolishly have done.” Fifty years on, it’s now time to restore Lake Pedder.
Julie Gough, Determined, 2021, giclee print on Hahnemuhle photo rag paper, edition of 10 plus 2 artist’s proofs, 40 x 60 cm (image size). Courtesy OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights, Tasmania and Bett Gallery Hobart
OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights, in collaboration with Bett Gallery Hobart, present water[shed], an exhibition of works by fifty leading Australian and international artists, including Rick Amor, Fiona Hall, David Keeling, Janet Laurence, Euan Macleod, Noel McKenna, Mish Meijers, Joan Ross, Valerie Sparks, Heather B Swann, Imants Tillers, and Philip Wolfhagen, with aims to highlight the importance of wild environments in our lives, the hope of restoration of that wildness, and, through artwork sales, financially assist the Restore Pedder campaign. On show at Bett Gallery Hobart with rescheduled dates, 5 to 27 August.
Pat Brassington, Kiss of life, 2021, pigment print, edition of 6 plus 2 artist’s proofs, 70 x 52 cm (image size). Courtesy OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights, Tasmania and Bett Gallery Hobart
Highlights include a haunting video montage of more than one hundred previously unseen black and white photographs by the late artist Geoff Parr (1933–2017). Recently rediscovered by his partner, fellow artist Pat Brassington, whose work also features in water[shed], these images were captured before, during and after the damming of Lake Pedder. Also, on view is a portrait of legendary singer-songwriter and environmentalist Patti Smith by the equally renowned musician and social justice campaigner Joan Baez, and, spilling outside the gallery into the streets, large-scale video installations, including billboards created for the exhibition and installed in central Hobart by the New York-based art activist group the Guerrilla Girls.
