Join artist Peta Clancy in conversation with curators Naomi Cass and Gareth Syvret about the making of the project Undercurrent  currently part of the exhibition Capital at the National Centre For Photography.

Peta Clancy is a descendant of the Bangerang Nation from the Murray Goulburn area south-eastern Australia. Her photographic work explores hidden histories of colonisation, events which threatened the survival of her ancestors. Through processes of manually manipulating photographic prints and rephotographing these she aims to re-construct and bring to light these hidden histories in a contemporary setting. Her photographs seek to challenge the viewer to focus on what may have been missed, denied or hidden. She was awarded the inaugural 2018 Fostering Koorie Art and Culture grant from the Koorie Heritage Trust to collaborate with the Dja Dja Wurrung community to create a body of work ‘Undercurrent’ investigating massacre sites on DjaDja Wurrung country. She explored an unmarked massacre site submerged underwater, seeing this site as a metaphor for Australia’s denied history of massacres.

“In my photographs I am interested in finding ways to visually depict and explore sites where the actual [massacre] location is unknown, or the exact site cannot be accessed. For instance, it being beneath water. I believe this is a metaphor for the hidden nature, and depth, of the violence that occurred throughout Australia.