Sustainable Groundwater Stories – From Disasters to Epical Narration

Fiction writers rarely imagine water’s subterranean realms. Novelists tend not to encroach beneath the predominant attention to surface water to find the potency of groundwater narratives. This paper examines the deep, time connections of water and story. Blending post-human imaginaries with the politics of Australian water cultures and drawing from Val Plumwood’s “shadow places”, the paper applies the notion of “shadow waters”1 to creative writing methodologies. Telling disaster stories is not enough. Narrating the vulnerabilities and potencies of groundwater’s tidal movements means linking ancient pasts with perilous futures through the precarious present. Acknowledging the long tradition of Indigenous oral story lines, Alexis Wright’s “epical storytelling” in Carpentaria is exemplary.2 What can be learnt of sustainable groundwater ecologies and incursions into groundwater management from stories that give voice and representation to aquifers themselves

Waitaki: Water of Tears, River of Mana

This paper illuminates the significance of the braided mighty Waitaki River and how it sustains the people that shelter within her valley. This article begins acknowledging Rākaihautū as the first person to occupy and consecrate the land of Te Waipounamu, the South Island of Aotearoa New Zealand. It is Rākaihautū that journeyed through this island as he carved out and named the great southern mountains and lakes, thus establishing ahi kā (occupation rights) of the Waitaha tribe. These ancient names anoint and link these sacred waterways and bountiful pools to the ancestral Pacific homelands of Te Patu Nui o Aio. The naming and formation of the land and cascading waterways that flow from her is further explored in a pūrākau (narrative) about the Māori atua (deity) of Tane and his brothers, which includes the positioning of his tallest brother Aoraki, whose tears symbolically represent the Waitaki River. The second half of this article then turns to focus on several Waitaha sociocultural and political events based around the Waitaki River and valley over the last one hundred and fifty years. One of the major founding political and cultural events within the Waitaki Valley includes the passive resistance march of Te Heke (1877-79), led by Te Maihāroa, in protest against settler land encroachment and Māori grievances against the Crown

Kōpata

Report from the Art+Water art and science project 2019.Tohu (marks and signs2) are a form of literacy and are boundless within “te ao toi” (the art world), but there are particular tohu that encourage story telling or interpretations of the different forms, or even the personifications, of wai. This artwork is an attempt at a figurative description of what happens when water falls

Place-based film for growing community engagement in local marine conservation

Awareness, knowledge and community identity can grow from local narratives about conservation and enhance our capacity for environmental stewardship. New media narrative approaches are also seeking to improve the terms of community engagement across a spectrum of stakeholders. For instance, film is increasingly being used by scientists and policymakers to situate science stories within a community in order to increase local ownership and enhance engagement, be it through active participation in conservation or to support/social license. Here, the use of placebased documentary film as a tool to affect these outcomes is explored in a community adjacent to a controversial marine reserve, and we focus in particular on the effect of film on local youth

Art + Science + Dung Beetles: Collaborating to Sustain People, Land and Water

Report from the Art+Water, art and science project 2019.Dung beetles connect history, myth, science, and economy. They symbolise regeneration and restoration of life. They keep vital ecological cycles churning, build soil, disperse nutrients, and even play a role in protecting our streams. They improve soils to help feed people. That makes dung beetles joiners and menders – what better agents for connecting the minds and hearts of an artist (Jessica Ritchie), an entomologist (Emma Curtin) and an ecologist (Henrik Moller) in an Art+Water project

Malaria in New Zealand – Using Art Science to spread a message

Report from the Art+Water, art and science project 2019.Mosquitos are the vectors for a variety of diseases and parasites, and pose a threat to both humans and animal species. While malaria is not a present threat to humans in New Zealand, avian malaria is infecting native species of birds and can affect future population growth

Present/Forthcoming: Tracing imagined waters and their inhabitants

Report from the Art+Water, art and science project 2019.Present/forthcoming -  a collaboration between Kelly's studio practices and the workings of Jon Linqvist’s ichnology research

Art and Water Collaboration: Interview

In this interview Bryce and Anne share their fascination with the deep sea and our interest in the changing oceans. They took part in the Art+Water art and science project in 2019

Sinclair Wetlands: A case study of practice-led research in community projects

Report from the Art+Water, art and science project 2019.This paper documents two community art projects with Glen Reilly, kaitiaki for Sinclair Wetlands. It has two parts: research undertaken for the Sinclair Wetlands projects and a reflection on practiceled research as a methodology based on Sinclair Wetlands as the research topic. The Create Art and Plant Trees project was an area of investigation during my postgraduate study in 2019 to frame my research around human emotions within the natural environment. A second project for the “Art+Water: Mountains to the Sea” exhibition was a community-engaged art project, designed to foster collaborations and positive emotions between artists and the community. The framework consisted of a research topic supported with interdisciplinary theories, practice-led research methodology and studio practice. This paper demonstrates how practice-led projects influenced my postgraduate research and reflects on this learning experience from both academic and community perspectives