Jacqui Stockdale, La Aqua, 2019. Paper, C-type print, watercolour, oil on linen, glitter, 100 x 70cm. Courtesy of the artist and Olsen Gallery, Sydney.

For her latest exhibition, multi-disciplinary artist Jacqui Stockdale uses collage to explore themes and locations associated with water. Dams, rivers, oceans and puddles all play a part. With the title referencing All the Rivers Run, a book by Nancy Cato published in 1958 and later adapted into the 1980s Australian mini-series starring Sigrid Thornton, Stockdale draws upon her teenage experiences of summers spent near Victoria’s Broken River, to create a series of images piecing together a complex picture of cultural identity.

“I was always aware of an unspoken past and imagined the Broken River’s banks when it was once a lifeline for local Indigenous families, an important meeting place with sacred sites,” Stockdale says. “I thought I knew why the early settlers called the river broken.”

Encompassing both joy and tragedy, Stockdale’s collages have been assembled from images and materials drawn mostly from her own archive. The series will comprise 12 images including four 140  by 100 centimetre works and eight smaller works. “I repurpose large photographs and paintings, rip up books, dye fabrics using coffee grains and bleach, tear up costumes and ask fellow artists for their offcuts,” she elaborates. “This is the first time I have brought together so many elements in one body of work and at such a large scale.”

Exhibition opens: 2–4pm Saturday 3 August 2019

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