Supertrophic
whenua pigment watercolour (mud from Boggy Pond, Wairarapa Moana) on paper, 125x300cm
![Supertrophic alongside traces left behind and imprints silently borne and Border[land], Massey University, 2023](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/810a71bde3bd12f80a34b661cdee207eb2257db4e1f14d566d935176ceb59084/0Y4A6758-28.jpg)
This work was made in collaboration with Boggy Pond, Wairarapa Moana wetlands, with the intention of giving agency to the repo in my making. Through repeatedly visiting the wetland, I slowly began to build a relationship with place. My conceptual and practical processes have been collaborative, representing a rejection of the Western separation of culture and nature, and emphasizing the importance of human and non-human cooperation in ecological regeneration and conservation.
Supertrophic was painted with whenua (earth) pigment watercolour, and it recounts the repetitive alternating of wet to dry in its process. As the paint dries, it leaves behind a dry rough sediment, alluding to the history and continuation of draining wetlands in Aotearoa New Zealand for agricultural pasture. Supertrophic plays with horizontality and verticality, flowing from the wall onto the floor, combining horizontality and verticality in one work.
LAWA defines “supertrophic” as, “a trophic level greater than 5 meaning the water quality is very poor. The lake is fertile and saturated in phosphorus and nitrogen, often associated with poor water clarity”. This classification applies to Wairarapa Moana and is; the last trophic indicator before the lake is considered “dead”. I therefore wanted to draw attention to the pollution of the lake and its wetlands, and how as a living entity, it is slowly dying, fading away.