Sonia Leber and David Chesworth: Where Lakes Once Had Water

'Where Lakes Once Had Water' presents a major, new video artwork by Melbourne artists Sonia Leber and David Chesworth. The artwork was commissioned by the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH). The publication explores an art/science creative alliance through commissioned essays by respected authors Tim Flannery, Fiona Gruber and Sophie Knezic, an 'In-Conversation' between scientist Michael-Shawn Fletcher and the artists, and over 70 full-page colour images drawn from the video artwork and field documentation. Authors' texts and artwork images offer insights and expand on the science, art and Indigenous perspectives of this project, reflecting on topics including climate, water and vegetation, changing landscape and notions of deep history.The project articulates the creative and scientific impetus of the investigative team of scientists, who, working together with the Mudburra, Marlinja, Jingili, Elliot, Jawoyn and Larrakia communities in the Northern Territory, are using lake sediment samples to understand the changes in the landscape. The artists travelled with the Earth scientists on research trips to the dry bed of Lake Woods, the full Lake Girraween in the Northern Territory, and the university laboratory. It is a journey between art, earth science, remote landscapes, climate change, Indigenous ownership and creation narratives. Sonia Leber and David Chesworth are internationally respected contemporary artists. Their distinctive installations incorporate video, sound, architecture and public participation. The artwork 'Where Lakes Once Had Water' (2020) is a response within an ambitious and multi-faceted research project that sets out to tell a culturally inclusive, globally significant human and environmental history of Australia. Australia has been shaped by its natural, historic and Indigenous heritage. To adapt successfully to future changes, we - as a nation - must dramatically improve our understanding of Australia's past. CABAH is undertaking research that will safeguard our national heritage, transform research culture, connect with communities and inform policy. The project introduces a strand of CABAH's research into the conceptual, contemplative and nuanced context of contemporary art. The interdisciplinary alignment is conducive to important conversations occurring daily in communities, schools, laboratories, boardrooms, banks and governments around the world, topics that occupy the media and concern citizens at every level. 'Where Lakes Once Had Water' explores how different, seemingly separate, investigative pathways can coexist, resonate and converge in surprising and transformative ways.