• Charles Sturt University academics create an interactive exhibition highlighting the importance of eight species on the brink of extinction

Charles Sturt University academics have given regionally important species on the brink of extinction new life with an interactive exhibition in Wagga Wagga.

The exhibition, Understories, has been created collaboratively by Associate Dean (Academic) in the Charles Sturt Faculty of Arts and Education (FoAE) Associate Professor Christopher Orchard, Lecturer in Creative Arts in the Charles Sturt School of Social Work and Arts Mr Timothy Crutchett and Technical specialist in the FoAE Mr Damian Moloney.

Understories features eight species rendered through sculpture, video, audio and text-based multimedia storytelling to form an interactive exhibition.

Professor Orchard said the exhibition was commissioned by the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, with the aim to foreground the way we listen to the world around us and the ways we come to know absences in that same world.

“We centred this research and conversation on eight species whose absences we had collectively noticed,” Professor Orchard said.

“We then researched each species to understand what was impacting on its ability to live well, and then used this as a means to explore interactive and multimedia storytelling.

“The space is completely blacked out and sectioned off from other areas of the gallery, so it is like crossing a threshold into a completely different world; one where the interconnections of eight species can be told through both audio and visual storytelling.”

This darkness is intentional, acknowledging the way increasing light pollution is impacting the Bogong Moth’s ability to read the stars and therefore undertake one of the country’s largest, most prolific and important migrations.

“We utilised light sensitivity to illustrate the way changes in light pollution affect their ability to migrate effectively,” Professor Orchard said.

“Similarly, we know that soil compaction from agricultural practices is degrading the Pale-headed Snake’s preferred habitat.

“The entire gallery floor was transformed into a microphone using equipment normally used for recording seismic activity, which in this scenario triggers a change in the species behaviour in the space as a projection, based on it listening to your location and how heavy-footed you are in there.”

Each of the eight species has its own relevant interactive mechanisms, featuring the Regent Honeyeater, Large-eared Pied Bat, Bush Stone-curlew, Christmas beetles, Pale-headed Snake, Bogong Moth, Koala and Greater Bilby – all of which were once endemic to the region.

Professor Orchard said the exhibition is suited to both adults and children, prompting important conversations.

“Kids get a kick out of triggering these things and seeing that the escalating changes to one species can also impact another,” he said.

“This opens up a critical space for us to have those difficult conversations with our children about what it means to live more neatly within the limitations of our planet.

“For adults, the space also invites quiet contemplation, providing a useful space for difficult knowledges as we face the increasing challenges of climate change.”

Understories is currently on exhibition at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery until Sunday 19 January, located on the corner of Baylis and Morrow streets.

The commissioned work is supported by Eastern Riverina Arts with funding from the Country Arts Support Program.