Darling Darling

Gabriella Hirst’s Darling Darling 2021 is a gentle, contemplative video that traces two parallel histories. On one side of this dual-channel work, we encounter various sites on Barkindji Country, filmed cinematically from dawn to dusk under the close guidance of Barkindji Elder Uncle Badger Bates. The landscape here, around the area now known as Bourke, is critically drought-affected. The waterways of the Baarka (Darling River) are near-empty.

On the other side, we encounter a different world altogether. The second channel reveals the regimes of care undertaken by the Art Gallery of New South Wales’ painting conservators to restore WC Piguenit’s The flood in the Darling 1890 1895. The flood in the Darling 1890 is a major work in the Gallery’s Australian art collection. The care and attention directed towards this painting stands in stark contrast to the neglect and exploitation of the Baarka. With sound from each location bleeding across the two channels, Hirst converges the two narratives to question why a painting is provided with more care than an ancient, sentient waterway.