In Suspension

This new work is a collaboration with my colleague Amanda Reichelt-Brushett. It is presented as part of the “Speaking With the River” exhibition that we curated along with colleagues in the LabX environmental research group, held at the Northern Rivers Community Gallery in Ballina, March-May 2021.

This work features data from an 18-month water quality monitoring study conducted across five sites on the Richmond River in 2012/13, alongside sediment samples from across the Richmond River catchment. The most significant event captured in the data is ex-tropical cyclone Oswald that dumped record rainfalls across the catchment in late January 2013, causing major flooding in the lower Richmond catchment.

 As a work of information visualisation, this project seeks to present a picture of the catchment that utilizes the tools of both art and science, presenting sampling data in numerical, graphical and material form.

The work shows the phenomena that drive and are driven by the passage of soil and water through the catchment – storm events, dissolved oxygen levels, pH etc. – but it also creates a rich “palette” of sand, mud and water that gives insight into the incredible visual and textural diversity of the soils and sediments that move through the catchment.

“In Suspension” is made up of a number of components, each designed to allow a different avenue in to understanding the forces and phenomena that constitute a river and its catchment. Below are a series of images documenting the installation in all its many components - numerical data, water quality monitoring sample swatches, photos of the swatches, jars of sediment, and the major information visualisation work that highlights the explosion of sediment through the catchment during cyclone Oswald.