Bridget Baskerville

Bridget Baskerville, Tailings, 2023, corroded mild steel, 30 x 20 cm (each). NFS.

Tailings is a body of work that responds to the relationship between extractive industries and water. These mild steel plates have been submerged in the water and sediment of coal mine dams on Dabee Wiradjuri Country, near Baskerville’s hometown of Kandos. This method serves as an entry point to engage with bodies of water situated on contested extraction sites, while incorporating the agency of water through the marks of corrosion formed on the plates surface. Tailings focuses on mine tailings dams, using discarded ecological matter from mining as a lens through which to examine the social, ecological and economic impacts of extractive industries on regional, working-class communities. Baskerville’s interest in engaging with the topic of mining in her practice is informed by her experience growing up in a mining family in regional NSW.

Bridget Baskerville is an early career artist, based between Canberra (Ngunawal Ngambri Country) and her hometown of Kandos, NSW (Dabee Wiradjuri Country). Through the themes of community, history, time and ecology, Baskerville’s work examines socio-environmental issues faced in regional Australia, looking at human impact on place and the relationship between extractive industries and water. Baskerville works across media such as printmaking, installation, photography, and video. At the core of her current practice is the process of submerging metal plates in bodies of water impacted by human intervention and leaving them to corrode. This method serves as a means to emphasise the agency of water and non-human entities within these controlled systems, as evidenced by the texture and marks of corrosion that develop on the plate's surface.