Groundswell: Recent movements within art and territory

A Spark NT exhibition curated by Carmen Ansaldo
Presented by Artback NT

Contemporary artists are shifting the conceptual focus of their practices to address the intensifying crisis of Australia’s diminishing water supply. Alongside scientists and environmentalists, artists are some of the first responders to this crisis, bearing witness to its effects through their creative expression. Groundswell: recent movements within art and territory showcases a selection of powerful reactions with particular focus on creeping changes to the Northern Territory’s water supply.

Curated by Darwin-based writer, activist and arts worker Carmen Ansaldo, Groundswell features over twenty works by Northern Territory artists including Jacky Green, Kelly Lee Hickey, June Mills, Aly de Groot, Patricia Phillipus Napurrula, Lee Harrop, Maicie Lalara, Mel Robson, Jennifer Taylor and Tarzan JungleQueen. Through moving image, visualised data, painting, printmaking, ceramics and sculpture, these works united in unambiguous concern for country, agitate for the paradigm shift we so desperately need if we are to preserve precious resource into an uncertain future. This Spark NT exhibition identifies the compelling first steps of an artistic movement in its own right. As streams form rivers, individual artworks combine to form a collective force. A groundswell has occurred.