Vanessa Russ, Deep Ground 3, 2023. Charcoal on paper, 50 x 50cm. Courtesy: the artist and Art Collective WA, Perth.

A new series of charcoal drawings transport Vanessa Russ back to Country, when the gorges flood. Trapped beneath the rocky layers of Kimberley rivers are deep subterranean waterways…. When the rains come these waterways spill through cracks creating pressurised funnels. The water spurts to the gorges’ surface where it mixes with the water that has gathered from the sky. The land feels happy again and we get to swim.

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