Responding to the original and built environment of Tallawoladah where the Museum of Contemporary Art now stands, Jazz Money’s work hold this water in the waters of your knowing for the 2022 iteration of Primavera is a site responsive poetic installation. Lead by the significant bodies of water that have always existed at the place now known as Circular Quay, this work is about the meeting of fresh and saltwater, now held beneath the buildings footings and harbour promenade.

Told through an interplay of light, audio and text the artwork creates an immersive environment, with footage of Gadigal waterways and poetry animated to visually mimic the way sunlight bounces off water.

The light-work within which the poems sit evoke the waters that surround the building, while the text itself also references the colonial sandstone building and confluence of pipes, drains and containers that has been imposed upon the landscape. 

The poem invites the audience to consider the significance of place and the many layers of knowledge, story, and memory that exist everywhere across this continent, including in our built up urban environments. The site specific nature of this poem creates an intimate experience for the viewer, while the fragmented nature of the installation invites audiences to experience the work in a multitude of ways. 

Created as a site responsive work to Tallawoladah by an off-Country fresh water Wiradjuri woman, hold this water in the waters of your knowing is an invitation to audiences to consider the deep time of all place, and to wonder deeply about the way that story is held and told across this continent.