BACK: RIVERBEDS - SALLY CRAVEN & ENA GROZDANIC (SA

Sally Craven and Ena Grozdanić propose a new work-in-development video installation Riverbeds, the outcome of a Creative Development Program and studio residency at Testing Grounds, which aims to document sites of resistance and draw connections between diverse socio-cultural spaces. Inspired by on-ground activism to save river systems, and the multiplicity of stories embedded in landscapes, Sally and Ena attempt to situate the local histories of the Sana river and the Birrarung river in a broader global context. 

The artists chose the Sana river as the first ‘site of resistance’ due to Ena’s intimate knowledge of the waterway—the river dissects Ena’s hometown in Bosnia—and the Birrarung river as it is site-specific to Testing Grounds. Both rivers are encoded with stories of resistance, violence, trauma, and healing. Inspired by Édouard Glissant’s call for a horizontalist form of globalisation, the artists hope to work across borders and mediums to displace centres and create new nodes of solidarity. 

The artists would like to thank Wurundjeri Elders Aunty Gail Smith, Aunty Julieanne Axford and The Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation; Arts SA; Isabella Hone-Saunders and the team at Testing Grounds; their mentor Erin Milne, producer Bureau of Works; musician/composer Nic Ryan-Glenie; Nexus Arts; VA Digital Hire, and drone operator Brett Hunter.