Clare McCracken and Heather Hesterman
It is believed that the water flowing through the Ovens River is the same water that has always been on Earth, arriving four and a half billion years ago as the solar system formed. Therefore, the water of the Ovens has moved through the capillaries of plants, nurtured new life in wombs, leisurely advanced through underground aquifers and lapped against tall ships, canoes and bulk carriers. Water records in its molecular architecture the pasts we may not be able to see or that have been actively erased. Therefore, to think with water – to think with the Ovens River – is to remember.
With impressive granite rocks and majestic river red gums, the Ovens River and its watershed are picturesque, making it a much-loved recreational site for camping, swimming, paddling, and fishing. Yet historical and current-day ecological impacts through mining, agriculture, and climate change have indelibly altered its landscape. This project explores the environmental history and social importance of the Ovens River and its watershed through archival images from the State Library, writing, participatory arts practice and documentation of performative fieldwork.
Wild Country grew out of the COVID-19 pandemic and its extensive lockdowns. Yearning for the river of her childhood, Clare embarked on a comprehensive research project. With backgrounds in art, performance and connections to the Ovens River, Clare and Heather collaborated to generate creative responses exploring the river and its tributaries by performing acts of care documented throughout this project.
We would like to acknowledge the Dhudhuroa, Taungurung, Waywurru, Gunaikurnai and Jaithmathang as the First Peoples and Traditional Custodians of the upper Ovens River and we pay our deepest respects to Elders past and present. We would also like to acknowledge the other Aboriginal groups that have an ongoing connection to the region.
Exhibited at Wangaratta Gallery 2024, by Clare McCracken and Heather Hesterman with Andrew Ferris, Scarlet Sykes Hesterman and Xander Reichard. In 2025 Wild Country was exhibited at the Library at the Dock Gallery, Docklands, Naarm/Melbourne.
Heather Hesterman 