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Mangrove ecosystems are critical to our shorelines. They form a buffer between land and water, providing protection from erosion, filtering runoff, and are primary sea life nurseries. They are highly efficient carbon sinks. Chronic pressures on these environments from land clearing, the use of herbicides and pesticides, global warming and associated drought and severe storms are endangering them with potentially catastrophic consequences for the health of land and sea.

I spent a week working with a citizens’ science project that monitors the mangrove forests of the Daintree in far North Queensland. I had the privilege of venturing into a terrain where humans do not routinely go and to viscerally experience an environment of gritty beauty and intricate interrelationships. The work in this exhibition is my response to the mystery, majesty and fragility I was exposed to in this environment, one tragically and fatally often written off as a ‘swamp’.

- Helen Mueller, 2019

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Waterloo 409B George Street, Waterloo NSW 2017