WAI WURRI’ says artist Jane Zusters, ‘Why Worry about Water?’
Where : Tivoli / art/books / Film
Central Oneroa , Waiheke Island
Opening 5 pm saturday December 3, 2011
Bunny Mcdiamid will open the exhibition and Sue Fitchett will read her poetry
Jane Zusters is a major, award-winning contemporary New Zealand artist known for for her dynamic imagery in many media from her early exhibitions in 1975 to the present. Jane, known to many on Waiheke, is based in Christchurch but also spends time at her studio-bach there.
This upcoming exhibit on Tivoli’s Art Wall sees Jane merging art and politics with a focus on her passionate involvement in water issues. Jane has made exhibits and films around the issues of pollution, conservation and corporatisation of water – some of these short films will be screened at Tivoli alongside the exhibit.
In 2010 she journeyed from the Murray River Mouth at Gulwa to the Hume Dam photographing her impressions of this ravaged wonderland as a cautionary tale for our New Zealand rivers.
In Canterbury the Government wants to fast-track irrigation schemes for more intensive farming.
One of the environmental battles being fought, is protecting the Lake Sumner water level from being raised by a dam on the South Branch of the Hurunui River.
In Australia settler culture has created a vision in which the water of the Murray is stored, regulated and allocated for human consumption and economic production. The relationships between people, insects, water, birds, fish, trees and the needs of the river have been discounted. This resulting over-allocation of water and resulting destruction of freshwater ecology is also happening here in New Zealand demanding a rethink of our water water management, law and policy.
Jane says ‘ ‘Wai Wurri’ is a themed exhibition on the subject of water with images of the Murray and Hurunui Rivers. In the 21st century water is shaping up to be one of the major issues facing our community. Water has been called the ‘New Gold’ ‘. Jane has participated in Artists for Save Our Water exhibitions, where artists use art to initiate dialogue around water issues. On Waiheke Island, she says, ‘we collect our own rainwater, so why do we need to worry about water? These images are an invitation to consider a resource we all take for granted. However without water there is no life.’
Liz Greenslade for Tivoli
The supply of clean water is not negotiable.
The use of water is.