Chain of Ponds

Collaboration with Helen Hardess and Jude Roberts It is difficult to imagine the arterial network of water that flows, seeps and sits deep beneath the surface of ephemeral watersheds in Australia. The groundwater appears when extracted by a bore or from artesian springs, many of which have either been destroyed or have reduced pressure since European settlement. The scientific equipment known as ‘stygofauna nets’ is used to draw samples of bore water for analysis. This installation recreates plankton nets in waxed paper, to reveal the temporality of the often hidden relationships of groundwater systems and the life forms they support.

Jude Taggart Roberts, 2019