A RIVER Country exhibition was hosted by the Broken Hill City Art Gallery over the weekend.
It showcased work made in collaboration with the National Museum, the CAD Factory, and school students from throughout the Far West.
Artist and curator Kirsten Wehner from the National Museum of Australia and artist/educator Samantha Davies from Petaurus Education Group facilitated workshops with local students in Pooncarie, Broken Hill and Menindee.
“We had great groups of children who were all contributing new artworks to the exhibition,” Ms Wehner said.
“We were blown away by how deep their thinking was about the significance of water and how they relate to the water and the river.”
The exhibition was created in collaboration with Canberra artist Sally Adair, who conceptualised a Murray Darling Wetland and the plants and animals living in the wetland.
It was part of a series of public programming called River Country that took place throughout town last week.
Ms Wehner said she wanted to create a pop-up exhibition to share the stories of people living along the river system.
“We were thinking about how we could include people in a direct way, so we sent a bunch of cut-out cardboard animals to artists and students along the Murray-Darling River System,” she said.
“They turned those into artworks to share the story of their connection to their local rivers.”
More than 150 students from throughout the Far West were engaged to paint a cardboard cut-out.
Ms Wehner said the exhibition will continue to change as it tours as more students artwork is added and removed.
“The exhibition isn’t really a finished thing,” she said.
“It’s a living thing that continues to adapt and change as people interact with it. Every student has considered what River Country means to them and has produced an artwork from this.
The River Country Tour has travelled to Narrandera and Broken Hill so far, and has plans to tour in Moree next year.
