More than a Fish Kill
Film Screening and Panel Conversation
11ASM, in partnership with the National Museum of Australia, the Cad Factory and Otis Filley Studios invite you to a special screening of the new documentary More than a Fish Kill, followed by a panel conversation and Q&A with some of the film team exploring this unique project’s significance for living well with our waterways.
More than a Fish Kill explores how artists, fisheries managers and traditional custodians came together in the aftermath of the 2019 and 2023 mass fish death events along the Barka (Darling River). They turned these ecological disasters into catalysts for cultural connection and revival. More than a Fish Kill tells the story of a remarkable group of collaborators who interwove art, science and ancient knowledge to honour our rivers, care for communities, and create spaces for re-shaping how we live, now and into the future.
After the screening, join Vic McEwan, Artistic Director at the Cad Factory, Matthew McLennan, Dept of Regional NSW Fisheries program manager, and Barkindji custodian Barbara Quayle, together with Kirsten Wehner from the National Museum, for a lively discussion about the film, the stories it shares and the questions it raises.
Matthew McLellan is Senior Fisheries Manager with Department of Regional NSW Fisheries, based in Narrandera in Wiradjuri Country. Matt grew up on a farm in the Riverina and has been fascinated with the natural world from an early age. This led to studies in marine and environmental science. Matt has worked in native fish breeding and conservation, and currently manages Fisheries’ stocking program.
Date: Monday 12th August
Time: 6pm
David Doyle is a Barkindji and Malyangapa man from Menindee, New South Wales, whose roots are deeply entwined with the Baaka (Darling River). He currently lives and works in Broken Hill. David serves on the Menindee Aboriginal Elders Council as proxy for his mother and on a Murray-Darling Basin Authority advisory board, where he advocates for sustainable water management practices. He is an artist whose primarily sculptural works emphasise Barkindji culture and his community’s bond with the land and water. He also owns and operates ‘Wontanella’, a cultural tourism business based in Menindee, whose name means ‘many waters’ in his language. Dave says that, ‘as a member of the Barkindji - the river people - I embody the spirit of a river person, dedicated to preserving and revitalising our natural heritage for future generations’.
Dr Vic McEwan is a contemporary artist whose practice involves sound, photography, video, installation and performance. His work explores socially engaged and site-specific art, with a deep interest in the creation of cross-sector partnerships. Vic is the Artistic Director of the Cad Factory, an artist run contemporary arts organisation based in Narrandera, NSW, and 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.
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).
