Riparian life: a visual navigation of the Hunter River Estuary

The Hunter River Estuary is defined as the intertidal zone of river that stretches from the Newcastle delta to the Oakhampton floodplains at Maitland Vale in New South Wales. This research of the Hunter River Estuary is unique in its integration of both objective and subjective research. The environmental history and science of the river brings to light many examples of pre-colonial riparian life and colonial antecedents. However, there has been no previous research that visually documents the dynamic nature of the estuary or that investigates this riparian environment in a creative exchange across empirical known and subjective unknown components of research. This riparian landscape has previously not been examined in the context of interdisciplinary creative practice. This interdisciplinary research project examines components of empirical knowledge that interconnect with the less known encounters of a practice-based researcher, shifting beyond traditional disciplinary models of research. The project builds awareness of the dynamic natural history and changing ecology of the Hunter River Estuary. New and less recognized aspects of knowledge and fresh perceptions of the river emerge with creative arts praxis and practical encounters of being in and moving through this specific riparian landscape. The liminal nature of the riparian environment is experienced from within and upon the river, across times and tides. In spite of the specificity of observed riparian sites, the contents often transcend the known and become windows into subliminal unknowns. This study has addressed these issues through art, as art is able to bring things forward, raise concerns and initiate new ways to think about and respond to some of the complexities of nature and being. The author puts forward a liminal dynamic position where the objective and subjective are not opposed and the qualities of both are realized and interwoven. This non-linear approach is attuned to the riparian environment and is uninhibited by disciplines or linear hierarchy, as the unknown is embraced along with the known and multiple components of knowledge co-emerge synchronously. Research outcomes provide a visual navigation of the dynamic nature of the Hunter River Estuary.