Aidan Hartshorn’s debut exhibition, Altered Currents, reflects on the environmental and cultural consequences of the Snowy Hydro-Electric Scheme in Australia’s high country. Growing up in Tumut, Hartshorn’s connection to Walgalu Country has been shaped by the scheme, which submerged sacred sites.
The exhibition features diamond shield forms with photographic patterns of turbulent waters from Snowy Hydro dams, created through refraction to echo southeast shield designs. Jonathan Jones explains, “For the artist, the patterns reference Rorschach cards, testing the viewer: a beautiful prism of babbling water, or an impediment to cultural engagement? Or something in-between, something more complex?”
Hartshorn’s work invites reflection on the intersection of cultural preservation and environmental change.
