The latest exhibition by Wagga artist and photographer Christopher Orchard focuses on man’s relationship with the earth and the mark left by European settlers.

It’s a topic gallery manager Stephen Payne believes will engage viewers and fuel debate.

“Christopher’s show is very much about the environment of sovereignty and about respecting traditional ownership and also the land itself,” he said.

“We’ve wanted a long-term project on the Wiradjuri nation and ideas of sovereignty for quite some time.”

Linda Elliot, curator of education and public programs at Wagga Art Gallery, describes the exhibition as a “way of looking at the world around us.”

“The Western view of the environment is traditionally to take from the land, while other viewpoints focus open working with the land and not against it,” she said.

“This exhibit looks what the land represents and the role we play working with it.”

Ms Elliot said this was made pertinent by the presence of ‘hidden elements’ through the exhibit.

“The artist has placed virtual experiences behind or alongside the works that can only be viewed with a phone or iPad,” she said.

“That way, people walking through can interact with the art.”

Perhaps most importantly, the exhibit questions the disappearance of natural resources.

Using thermographic technology, people can create impressions in certain sections of the gallery to see what once existed. 

“it’s not just animals that are disappearing,” Ms Elliot said.

“There’s plants and arable land that are disappearing completely.

“This exhibit asks what are we going to do about that.”

The exhibit will also form the basis of the public panel discussion to be held at 1.30pm on Saturday, April 21 at the Wagga Art Gallery. 

The panel will include Wiradjuri Elder and artist Lorraine Tye, Waradgerie (Wiradjuri) artist Lorraine Connelly-Northey, Professor Tim Wess, Dean of Science at Charles Sturt University, and artist and academic Christopher Orchard.

“it’s a diverse range of people so it should be very interesting,” Mr Payne said.