Join us for a special screening of More than a Fish Kill, a documentary exploring how artists, fishery managers, and First Nations custodians processed the 2019 and 2023 fish death events along the Darling River.

Sydney Health Ethics Network in partnership with Sydney Environment Institute, the National Museum of Australia, and The Cad Factory are pleased to present a special screening of the documentary More than a Fish Kill.

More than a Fish Kill explores how artists, fishery managers, and First Nations custodians came together in the aftermath of the devastating 2019 and 2023 mass fish death events along the Barka/Baaka (Darling River). Together, they turned these ecological disasters into catalysts for cultural connection and revival.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion facilitated by Dr Claire Hooker (Sydney Health Ethics), featuring Dr Vic McEwan (Artistic Director, The Cad Factory), Dr Kirsten Wehner (James O Fairfax Senior Fellow in Culture and Environment), and Dave Doyle (Barkindji artist, National Museum of Australia).

The film tells the story of a remarkable collaboration that interweaves art, science and ancient knowledge to care for communities, honour our rivers and reshape how we live - now and into the future.

The event is part of a larger partnership between the Sydney Environment Institute at The University of Sydney and the National Museum of Australia, titled Living on the Edge.

Speakers

Claire Hooker (Chair), Sydney Health Ethics

Dr Claire Hooker is Associate Professor in Health and Medical Humanities at Sydney Health Ethics and President of the Arts Health Network NSW/ACT. Claire’s research draws from creative research methods, critical humanities, public health, and science studies. Her current research focuses particularly on the role and impact of arts and culture in disaster management, in critical epistemology for arts and health, and in values and ethics in arts and health and in risk communication. With the Sydney Arts and Health Collective, she created the verbatim theatre play Grace Under Pressure, which has been performed widely in hospitals to improve healthcare workplace culture.

Kirsten Wehner, James O Fairfax Senior Fellow in Culture and Environment

Dr Kirsten Wehner is the James O. Fairfax Senior Fellow in Culture and Environment at the National Museum of Australia. Kirsten is a curator, artist and writer whose work centres on transforming people’s relationships with the more-than-human world. Her current projects focus on how creative practices can help us live better with waterways. Kirsten is the co-author/editor of Living with the Anthropocene: Love, loss and hope in the face of environmental crisis (New South, 2020) and Curating the Future: Museums, communities and climate change (Routledge, 2016).

David Doyle, Barkindji artist

David Doyle is a Barkindji and Malyangapa man from Menindee, New South Wales. He lives on Barkindji Country in Broken Hill with his wife and two children. David works for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, is a member of Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council, owns and operates Wontanella, a cultural tourism business, and holds numerous other positions on advisory councils and boards. David’s arts practice is tied to cultural connection to Country and to his ancestors, with his main work being sculptural. He spends time with his elders, seeking guidance, gathering oral histories, arranging visits to museum collections to view Barkindji artefacts and photographing their various forms and carved designs. He then incorporates this research into his artworks. David also teaches cultural practice in his home town of Menindee, has released a book of poetry and enjoys cooking bush foods in a contemporary style.

Vic McEwan, Artistic Director, The Cad Factory

Dr Vic McEwan is a contemporary artist who works with sound, photography, video, installation and performance. His practice explores socially engaged and site-specific art, often produced through cross-sector partnerships. Vic is the Artistic Director of the Cad Factory, an artist run contemporary arts organisation based in Narrandera, NSW, with a satellite studio in Sydney. He sits on the Arts and Health Network NSW/ACT and is a board member of Music NSW. Vic was recently awarded his PhD from the University of Sydney, becoming the first artist to graduate from the Faculty of Medicine and Health with a practice-based dissertation.

Image credit: National Museum of Australia