The ceramic installation Anabranch consists of 120 glazed ceramic pieces that cover a wall area of approximately 1200cm x 250cm. The project brings field studies and drawings of the Darling River system together with experimental studio work, creating the final studio ceramics. The hand-mixed glazing includes found river-bed soil from a dry anabranch of the Darling and hardwood ash. The work expresses the parting and re-joining of waterways as they progress to their goal and reflects allegorically our life’s journey. The title Anabranch alludes to the taking of a different path from the mainstream. The separate pieces signify the breaking down of this vast system through irrigation and global warming and create a sense of journey and flow in a cinematographic manner where each piece can be viewed as a single film frame.

The work has flexibility in how and where it is installed due to the portability of the many pieces. The installation of the work in natural bush provides an opportunity to express the cycle of sourcing the materials from the earth, refining them into the artwork and then returning them to nature. The cyclic characteristic of nature, our lives and the water that evaporates from earth’s surface, precipitates  and returns through rainfall is reflected in this work.