Arts / Action

water[shed] Restore Pedder Final Event Report Available now

A turning point, big change, high ground, restore pedder. History records art and artists at the forefront of discussions of social, political, and ecological issues.

‘…art can engage with the world to change the world’.

Olafur Eliasson
Photograph of the original Lake Pedder by Wilf Elvy taken from a light plane in 1972–73 prior to inundation by the Huon-Serpentine impoundment waters. The rugged Frankland Range is in the background and the three kilometre long, stunning pink quartzite beach sparkles in the foreground.
Photograph of the original Lake Pedder by Wilf Elvy taken from a light plane in 1972–73 prior to inundation by the Huon-Serpentine impoundment waters. The rugged Frankland Range is in the background and the three kilometre long, stunning pink quartzite beach sparkles in the foreground.

About the project

The summer of 2021–22 marks 50 years since Lake Pedder was flooded by a Hydro-Electric Power Scheme. This jewel of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, with its iconic wide, pink quartzite beach was swallowed up when 242 square kilometres of Tasmania’s wilderness drowned. The art and imagery created at the time continues to capture our imagination.

The original lake is not forgotten. It lies quietly waiting, just 15 metres beneath the dark, dead, brooding body of water still officially gazetted as Lake Pedder.

The campaign to restore Lake Pedder is a powerful symbol of hope in increasingly troubling times.

The scientific results are in. There is absolutely no doubt that the original Lake Pedder and environs can be restored. Dam removal has been increasingly reported globally and is becoming an important approach for river management, restoration and environmental conservation.

This 50-year anniversary also coincides with the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030.

The UN Decade is a rallying call for the protection and revival of ecosystems all around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. It aims to halt the degradation of ecosystems and restore them to achieve global goals to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent mass extinction.

Restoring Pedder is the perfect Australian flagship project for this UN decade.

Exhibition

water[shed] is an exhibition conceived by OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights and presented in collaboration with Bett Gallery to support the Restore Pedder campaign.

We are staging this exhibition at the Bett Gallery over three weeks from 5–27 August 2022 to coincide with the last winter in 1972 as the dam waters were rising and Lake Pedder finally went under.

50 national and international artists (one for each year since Lake Pedder was lost) have accepted our invitation to make work that explores the notions of watershed, ecosystem restoration, re-wilding, loss, grief, hope and of course to celebrate the original Lake Pedder.

Products

OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights has designed and published a major book, a set of 25 postcards, a boxed set of 12 cards and envelopes (both featuring the work of selected artists from the water[shed] exhibition) and a jigsaw puzzle. You can buy these products now!

Proceeds from sales of these products will support the Restore Pedder campaign.

Preview Videos

Guerrilla Girls Billboards

water[shed] at the Bett Gallery in Hobart was due to open on . Unfortunately the COVID Omicron wave put the kibosh on that!

We have rescheduled the dates to –. It hasn’t stopped us giving Hobart a special preview of what to expect from the 50 artists participating in water[shed].

Our New York artists — The Guerrilla Girls — are out and about town ‘making trouble’ on billboards in Murray Street Hobart CBD and Elizabeth Street, North Hobart.

Geoff Parr AV

With the help of artist Pat Brassington, we have unearthed the late Geoff Parr’s image archive from 1972–73 that records Lake Pedder before and during the inundation. A major audio-visual production of over 100 of Geoff’s images will feature as part of the exhibition. Watch a preview of a small selection of Geoff’s spectacular archive to get a sense of what will be unveiled in full at the exhibition in August 2022.

Education Kit

In collaboration with the University of Tasmania, Sustainability Learning Centre (Department of Education), the Science Teachers Association of Tasmania (STAT), the Australian Association for Environmental Education Tasmania (AAEE-Tas), and with support funding from Bellendena Small Grants Scheme, we have produced an Education Kit to be delivered free of charge to a number of schools and colleges in Tasmania. Schools across Australia and internationally can download a digital copy of the Education Kit and selected excerpts from the exhibition publication.

We hope this will help foster interest, uptake and dissemination of the Education Kit by state, national and international education organisations.

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Photograph of the original Lake Pedder by Wilf Elvy taken from a light plane in 1972–73 prior to inundation by the Huon-Serpentine impoundment waters. The rugged Frankland Range is in the background and the three kilometre long, stunning pink quartzite beach sparkles in the foreground.
Photograph of the original Lake Pedder by Wilf Elvy taken from a light plane in 1972–73 prior to inundation by the Huon-Serpentine impoundment waters. The rugged Frankland Range is in the background and the three kilometre long, stunning pink quartzite beach sparkles in the foreground.
Photograph of artist Max Angus by fellow artist Patricia Giles captures Max as a young man wearing his trademark beret and seated on the shore of Lake Pedder, painting en plein air.
Photograph of artist Max Angus by fellow artist Patricia Giles captures Max as a young man wearing his trademark beret and seated on the shore of Lake Pedder, painting en plein air.
Billboard above a building in Murray Street in Hobart’s CBD that reads ‘The ocean around Tasmania is warming at 2–3 times the global rate. No worries! Keep throwing $ at fossil fuels. A message from the Guerrilla Girls and water[shed].’
PREVIEW – New York artists the Guerrilla Girls
Black and white photograph of Lake Pedder by the late Geoff Parr capturing the mountain ranges and old eucalypt trees reflecting in the water of Lake Pedder during the last summer as the dam waters begin their inexorable rise.
PREVIEW – Geoff Parr’s Lake Pedder 1972–73 AV

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A composite image of the two water[shed] project products including the Restore Lake Pedder jigsaw puzzle and the water[shed] exhibition book.
A composite image of the two water[shed] project products including the Restore Lake Pedder jigsaw puzzle and the water[shed] exhibition book.
Images: Lake Pedder, Wilf Elvey (Image from the LIST © State of Tasmania) / Max Angus at work on the beach at Lake Pedder, Patricia Giles / Black and white images, Geoff Parr