'Tides' is a body of work by First Nations artist David Cragg, exploring the cultural and environmental confluences of the Drummoyne area, an important location throughout David's life growing up in the inner west, as a meeting place and an interchange.

A bountiful landscape upon a pristine tidal waterway, now largely hidden beneath layers of urbanisation and industrialisation, 'Tides' speaks to the parallels seen between both the ancestral and current use of this landscape, as a place to gather goods, a meeting place, a junction of land and water, and a point of travel along the Burramattagal (Parramatta River).

The earthy reds, pinks and golden sand hues used throughout the artwork, reflective of the sandstone outcrops along the river banks and bays, the midden sites and the harbour beaches, contrast with the electric blues, cyans, and turquoise tones of the waterways. Textural elements are representative of both the ebb and flow of the harbour tides and the metaphorical tides of human relationships with Country.

Deep, ancestral connection to and knowledge of the landscape and waterway is hidden among the layers of colonisation, often hiding in plain sight. Although deeply fragmented, middens, artworks and carving sites still exist today within the City of Canada Bay Area, allowing a continued connection to country and ancestors. Modern mapping marks of ferry routes appear within the design, mirroring culturally significant, traditional routes of Nawis (canoes).

The topographic view of the bays and inlets seen in the artwork represent sections of the waterway largely untouched by colonisation, alongside piers, wharves and harbours carved out by industry.

The artworks will be implemented as digital print assets wrapped around key street furniture and as mural assets, painted upon retaining walls and building elements.

About the artist: www.instagram.com/davidcragg