Watercolour monotype on paper
76 x 56 cm

Submerged / Exposed is my response to a significant learning experience, participating in the ANU Environment Studio's 2025 Sharing Stories field program on Walgalu Country. The generous Walgalu/Wiradjuri artist, Aidan Hartshorn led a group of creatives through the Tumut region, sharing personal insights and prompting discussion about the ongoing impact of the Snowy Hydro Scheme on Walgalu Country and cultural sites. He also demonstrated the foundational practice of making stone tools and we gained awareness of the presence of worked stone as we walked. This was particularly striking where the controlled flow of the Tumut River had caused water levels to drop and a recently submerged landscape to be exposed. I thought about that submerged landscape, revealed and concealed, while flooding my monotype printmaking 'plate' with fluid watercolour paint. I then worked back and forth to define the roots of a severed eucalypt enmeshed in the stony river bank. This involved lifting out light, with a damp cloth wrapped around my fingertip, and building up shadows with a brush.