Tidal Archive, Moonee Ponds Junction, 2023

Tidal Archive is a site-specific intervention that uses material about the Moonee Ponds Junction to help it to exhibit itself in a dialogical way. The site speaks, which is different to the site being used as a  back drop. This river junction was significantly altered during Melbourne’s early settlement for two reasons, firstly to create access upstream, where fresh water was abundant, and secondly to mitigate floods that were a natural part of the ecology. For this project, I displayed archival documents about the dredging and re-direction of the river, on boating infrastructure. This creates an intersection between the site history and contemporary maritime practices. The tidal water rises and falls over these posters, slowly drawing them back into the slip stream of tides and time. The written words smudge, dissolving the certainty of written histories. The paper, also dissolved creates a sedimentary interface with the ground above and ground water below. Laying images onto the ground refigures the myth of eye level, which museums and art institutions have used to center the upstanding gaze of human audiences.