Time and Tide: The Life of Norman Creek
Author(s)
FitzSimons, Trish
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2013
Metadata
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BACKGROUND: This is the signature documentary of a broader creative research project on the history and ecology of Norman Creek in inner city Brisbane, funded by Brisbane City Council. It forms part of the emerging field of exhibition-focused documentary, consistent with Andrea Witcomb's (2004) argument that digital media are central to the proliferation of exhibiting institutions in the 21st Century. It contributes to the field of environmentally focused social history and asks what the history of an urban place looks like when viewed from the perspective of waterways rather than land. It demonstrates Yi Fu Tuan's classic ...
View more >BACKGROUND: This is the signature documentary of a broader creative research project on the history and ecology of Norman Creek in inner city Brisbane, funded by Brisbane City Council. It forms part of the emerging field of exhibition-focused documentary, consistent with Andrea Witcomb's (2004) argument that digital media are central to the proliferation of exhibiting institutions in the 21st Century. It contributes to the field of environmentally focused social history and asks what the history of an urban place looks like when viewed from the perspective of waterways rather than land. It demonstrates Yi Fu Tuan's classic aphorism (1977) that Space plus History equals Place and in its various screening contexts demonstrates Bourriaud's (1998) relational aesthetics. CONTRIBUTION: As personal documentary disappears from Australian public television and history gets taught to dwindling cohorts in formal education, this work innovatively finds new audiences and venues for audio-visual histories and documentaries. This work is based on substantial primary research, in a context where extant local histories ignore creek industries, inhabitants and stories. Alongside its companion work/s it explores new forms of parallel narrative. SIGNIFICANCE: Its major sites of exhibition have been at events at the State Library of Queensland (Talking Water 2013); at Crane Arts, Philadelphia US; at the International River Symposium 2013 and online (Waterwheel 2013 - International Symposium on Water and Water arts) and the website of the Norman Creek Catchment Coordination Committee. This documentary's success at connecting with various public - both community and professional - underpinned a successful pitch to the Museum of Brisbane for a substantial in situ exhibition season (forthcoming June 2015).
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View more >BACKGROUND: This is the signature documentary of a broader creative research project on the history and ecology of Norman Creek in inner city Brisbane, funded by Brisbane City Council. It forms part of the emerging field of exhibition-focused documentary, consistent with Andrea Witcomb's (2004) argument that digital media are central to the proliferation of exhibiting institutions in the 21st Century. It contributes to the field of environmentally focused social history and asks what the history of an urban place looks like when viewed from the perspective of waterways rather than land. It demonstrates Yi Fu Tuan's classic aphorism (1977) that Space plus History equals Place and in its various screening contexts demonstrates Bourriaud's (1998) relational aesthetics. CONTRIBUTION: As personal documentary disappears from Australian public television and history gets taught to dwindling cohorts in formal education, this work innovatively finds new audiences and venues for audio-visual histories and documentaries. This work is based on substantial primary research, in a context where extant local histories ignore creek industries, inhabitants and stories. Alongside its companion work/s it explores new forms of parallel narrative. SIGNIFICANCE: Its major sites of exhibition have been at events at the State Library of Queensland (Talking Water 2013); at Crane Arts, Philadelphia US; at the International River Symposium 2013 and online (Waterwheel 2013 - International Symposium on Water and Water arts) and the website of the Norman Creek Catchment Coordination Committee. This documentary's success at connecting with various public - both community and professional - underpinned a successful pitch to the Museum of Brisbane for a substantial in situ exhibition season (forthcoming June 2015).
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Copyright Statement
The copyright in this creative work belongs to the Griffith artist.
Note
This short compilation documentary was first screened at the Talking Water symposium of the State Library of Queensland (March 21st) and the Waterwheel International Online Symposium (March 22nd), each to coincide with World Water Day, 2013.
This video introduces the social history, geography and ecology of the Norman Creek catchment, the smallest of the inner urban catchments that form part of the broader Brisbane river catchment. It deploys an oral history and visually poetic methodology.
Subject
Film, Television and Digital Media not elsewhere classified
Australian History (excl. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History)
Social and Cultural Geography