The Catchments Project

In 2015, Victoria-based artists Debbie Symons and Jasmine Morgan Ryan collaborated on The Catchments Project at Creative Spaces Carlton Connect Studio, LAB14, in Melbourne.

Arising from a desire to address the challenges of reduced rainfall and drought through art and science, the project produced two artistic installations that directly engage with water as a limited resource and lifeblood of the community:

The Water Harvest is an installation of water-filled glass bottles made in collaboration with local residents, who contributed samples of rain water and grey water collected from their homes and workplaces. Their names were etched onto the bottles along with the location from which the water was sourced.

Making Water Visible is a wall-mounted installation that maps Victoria’s natural water network, using perspex and mirror glass.

In the exhibition space, the two complementary pieces were displayed together, presenting our relationship to water at two different scales; the map and the bottles, the community and the individual.

For more information about the two artists, please consult their websites:

Debbie Symons https://debbiesymons.com.au/

Jasmine Morgan Ryan https://www.jasminemorganryan.com/