Heavy Metal Pectoral Fin, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2020
Heavy Metal Scapula, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2020
Heavy Metal Sternum, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2020
Heavy Metal Rib, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2021
Heavy Metal C2 Vertebra, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2021
Heavy Metal Spinal Column, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2021
Heavy Metal Skull (inferior view), from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2021
Heavy Metal Vertebra, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2021
Heavy Metal Scapula (lateral view) from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2021
Heavy Metal Skeleton, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2022
graphite on paper
Courtesy the artist
Heavy Metal Skull (lateral view), from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2020
graphite on paper
Collection of the City of Melville
Heavy Metal Lumbar Vertebra, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2021
Heavy Metal Petrosal (inner ear), from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2020
Heavy Metal C1 Vertebra, from the series ‘Swan River Dolphin Bones’, 2020
graphite on paper
Courtesy of the Janet Holmes à Court Collection
Alluvium, 2020
digital video, colour, sound
9:30 mins
Courtesy the artist
Filming, props, editing – Erin Coates
Composition – Stuart James
Percussion – Louise Devenish
Scuba filming – Jasper Silver
Freediving filming assistants – Tanya Lee and Gareth Wood
Metallic Water, 2020
cast bronze, porcelain, gold leaf, gold chain, steel
dimensions variable
Courtesy the artist
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous assistance from the Australia Council for the Arts and generous assistance from the Western Australian Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries
In these related works Erin Coates explores the changing ecology of the Derbarl Yerrigan / Swan River, a salt wedge estuary flowing through Boorloo (Perth). Informed by marine biology, historical research and her own experiences freediving in the water there, her work speaks to the ongoing impact of colonial occupation on this estuarine ecosystem.
Onscreen, Alluvium is a dark speculation on the transformation of the river while highlighting the fecundity and resilience of life forms within this urban waterway. Run-off from residential fertilisers and upstream agriculture have increased the phosphorus and nitrogen in the water, promoting algal blooms and low oxygen conditions. The shellfish reefs were dredged from the river and invasive species like the white colonial sea squirt and mermaid’s hair compete with native sea grasses.
Her sculpture, Metallic Water, and intricate drawings and are both beautiful and horrifying, responding to the impact of the river’s changing chemistry on the resident population of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose dolphins. As long-living, apex predators, dolphins have been found to accumulate heavy metals in their bones. Lead, cadmium, zinc, copper, chromium and cobalt have all been detected in the river at contaminant levels.
Coates writes:
The river is changing and it is never the same river twice. And I hope also that we are not the same; we are learning from Noongar custodians how to better care for this river. I know that I am never the same each time I go into the Derbarl Yerrigan. When I freedive there, sometimes I rest on the bottom at the river’s deepest point – where the light barely filters through the algae and tannin-rich water and the silty bottom is cast in dark green. When my eyes adjust I can see things moving about; purple tipped anemone, blue manna crabs, puffer fish. Also rubble, fishing gear, shopping trollies and bottles. Estuarine plants grow over the detritus and black pygmy mussels live on it. It is beautiful and terrifying.
Commissioned by the Biennale of Sydney with generous assistance from the Australia Council for the Arts and generous assistance from the Western Australian Government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries