“Where Lakes Once Had Water contemplates how the Earth is experienced and understood through different ontologies—ways of being, seeing, sensing, listening and thinking—that reverberate across art, First Nations thought, science, ancient and modern cultures, the non-human, and in between.”
Sonia Leber and David Chesworth 

Where Lakes Once Had Water, an exhibition that is audible as much as visible, features a large-scale, dual-screen 28-minute video work of the same name that transports us to remote ancient dry lakes of Australia's Northern Territory.  

In 2018 and 2019, the artists travelled with a team of Earth scientists who were investigating changes in the climate, landscape and ecology in the Northern Territory. Their journey took them to the remote, ephemeral Lake Woods, to Nitmiluk/Katherine Gorge and to Girraween Lagoon—to the lands and waters of the Mudburra, Marlinja, Jingili, Elliot, Jawoyn and Larrakia communities.

The exhibition also features three new sound, video and sculptural works. Sound Before Sound I: One and Three Scores (2022), Sound Before Sound II: Auditioning the Archive (2022), and Sound Before Sound III: Lyrebirdity (2022) explore sound, landscape and the archive.

Sonia Leber and David Chesworth: Where Lakes Once Had Water
TarraWarra Museum of Art
313 Healesville-Yarra Glen Road
Wurundjeri Country
Healesville, Victoria
30 July to 13 November 2022
Tuesday–Sunday, 11am–5pm
Curator: Victoria Lynn

Sonia Leber is a Senior Industry Fellow in the School of Art at RMIT University where David Chesworth is a Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow.  

leberandchesworth.com 

Image: Sonia Leber and David Chesworth, Where Lakes Once Had Water (video still), 2020. 2-channel 4K UHD video, stereo audio, 28:24 minutes. University of Wollongong Art Collection. CABAH Art Series Commission in partnership with Bundanon. Filmed on the lands and waters of the Mudburra, Marlinja, Jingili, Elliot, Jawoyn and Larrakia communities in Northern Territory, Australia, with additional filming and editing on Barkandji, Dharawal, Djabugay, Yidinji and Wurundjeri Country.