Bernadette Facer, Rights to water - Consumption's Residue (2026)
In Bernadette Facer’s Rights to water - Consumption's Residue, silverware is intertwined with irrigation piping and black handmade paper, symbolising the degradation of waterways and the legacy of contaminants under industrial farming practices.
The silverware speaks to domesticity and consumption; the piping to extraction and control. Bound together in blackened paper, they trace how over-extraction and nitrate leaching entangled nourishment with harm - leaving rivers marked by loss, contamination, and the quiet violence of "progress."
Rights to water – Consumptions Residue will be on display until 23 August 2026
About the artist:
Bernadette Facer is a conceptual installation and paper artist from Aotearoa, creating abstract landscapes through screenprint, found objects, and native timbers. Her installations offer critical commentary on water management in New Zealand and Australia, addressing the degradation of waterways caused by industrial farming practices.
Drawing influence from sombre and contemplative black protest paintings of Hone Papita Raukura “Ralph” Hotere, Facer’s artistic practice centres on the representation of braided rivers as shadow water or ata wai. Through black-on-black printing methods, her works serve as dual representations of memory and resource depletion, reflecting the environmental challenges of Waitara (Canterbury), the agricultural district from which she originates and the Darling Baarka river (Menindee, Australia). This distinctice approach creates layered visual narratives that speak to both the physical presence and absence of water, inviting viewers to consider the ongoing impacts on our precious waterways and ecosystems.
See more of Bernadette Facer's work here or visit www.paper-and-light.com.
Speak to our Arts & Culture team
For further information, please contact Council's Arts and Culture team.
Telephone:02 9936 8100