Gigalitre

Statement

Gigalitre is an exhibition which culminated from a 12 month dialogue by three Australian artists, from three states and locales immediately affected by the Murray Darling Basin, the Australian continent’s major river system.  

Forty percent of Australia’s agricultural produce is grown in the Murray Darling, up to ninety percent (depending on annual rainfall) of Adelaide’s water comes directly from the Murray Darling Basin. An enormous percentage of the states industrial income (the Iron triangle) relies on Murray River water. All three artists share the concern that unless some action is taken soon the decline of the river systems in Australia, especially the Murray Darling will have an extreme impact on all of Australia.

This exhibition is a collaborative mixed media installation by Neil Fettling, Vicki Reynolds, and Ian Tully. The use of digital photography by all three artists is a deliberate device to unify the exhibition and to provide a documentary record of the pipes, pumps and taps that form part of the extensive national network of water transportation. 

The work investigates river flow (environmental versus agricultural across the Murray/Darling system) and its impact on the locale where each of the artists live.

Neil Fettling has documented the profusion of PVC pipes that legally and illegally pump water from the river. Exhibited in grid formation, the stark white pipes dominate the natural environment and create a repetitive juxtaposition of human impact.