The painted river project: Art meets science – communicating cultural transformation through community engagement

Abstract

The Painted River Project intuitive sees art and water science join forces to engage directly with community by painting a new future for our river systems. The project was designed to communicate the need for cultural transformation towards a real understanding of the role water and our river systems play in underpinning human health and wellbeing, including our connection to the natural world and the health of the planet. The key aim of the (PRP) is to actively engage the community, through site-specific participatory art-making, science and water testing and through this to explore our shared connection to water and place, through creative and scientific interaction. The human-centred nature of art provides the ‘cultural window’ through which to view scientific knowledge by advancing tangible ways to view complex problems and as a ‘call to action’ to help inform innovative approaches. In August 2017, the first instalment of the (PRP) was held at the Duck River, Auburn, in Western Sydney as part of RiverFest, an initiative of the Parramatta River Catchment Group (PRCG). At the event, the community were provided with paint, canvases, easels and facilitators who helped guide the artistic process and the production of paintings that expressed ‘their future vision of an unpolluted river’. As a result, 128 different artworks were produced by a hugely diverse range of community members.