THis River
This river currently called ‘Mersey’ has become entwined with my life as a constant yet evolving presence in my thoughts. It has sustained life and spirit in this region for millennia, shaping the land and the lives of the people who depend upon it. The river we know, the one we can see, is wide and placid. Subdued by dams and bridges it meanders through broad agricultural valleys. Yet beyond our view there is a river few of us know: A wild river running through deep gorges and forests.
 
This river is an embodiment of our society’s dependence on natural resources. It is part of a fundamental earth system that humans cannot exist without. I want to know this river more deeply, beyond the purely physical environment. I want to explore the essence of the river in the seen and unseen places, the sublime and the mundane.
I wish to acknowledge that This River carries names and cultural meaning beyond my imagining, the palawa/pakana peoples of lutruwita Tasmania are the original and ongoing custodians of This River, This Land and they always will be. 

THis River: Project 
As the concept of this project developed though 2019 and into 2020, I had to think of ways to organise the images I was making. Wanting to make sure I experienced as much of the river as possible, without biasing myself to the more accessible areas.  While I considered a mathematical method of dividing the 150 kilometer rivers length into measurement based sections, I eventually decided on a geographical approach, reflecting the changing riverine environments as the river flows from the highlands to the sea.  

INCEPTION
The first series of images made throughout 2019-2020 were presented under the title
​INCEPTION 
: an act, process, or instance of beginning.

WaterShed
:  watershed is an area of land that drains all the streams and rainfall to a common outlet such as the outflow of a reservoir, mouth of a bay, or any point along a stream channel.

The second phase of my journey developed throughout 2021, I made repeated trips into the more remote areas of the river’s upper watershed and unseen places, a full body experience of the river that was challenging and rewarding.