Design, community art and science come together to imagine a resilient future coastline in an exhibition featuring work by students from The University of Western Australia and community members.

The exhibition ‘Rising Tides: Imagining Coastal Resilience’, which opens in Hamilton Hill this month, features work by first, second and third-year landscape architecture students, from the UWA School of Design, alongside artworks by community members from the Cockburn region.

Co-hosted by Associate Professor Natasha Pauli, from UWA’s School of Agriculture and Environment, the event is part of the UWA Oceans Institute’s Better Oceans Program research project to improve coastal resilience through creative methods of community engagement.

“As part of the project, community members were invited to create collages, textile artworks and photographs that tell their stories about the Cockburn coastline,”  Associate Professor Pauli said.

“The exhibition celebrates the social and ecological importance of the coast from Fremantle to Naval Base.”

Exhibition co-host Daniel Jan Martin, a lecturer from the UWA School of Design, is lead editor of a new publication, Rising Tides, which will be launched at the exhibition and features the work of landscape architecture students and staff.

“Our design studio explored three sites along the coast: Fremantle Esplanade, Catherine Point and Woodman Point,” Mr Martin said.

“The students’ ideas reflect diversity, designed to inspire thinking about the many possible futures for our coasts as tides rise.

“The exhibition and publication showcase the student’s ideas, inspired by the values of the community, and tell the story of a coastline subject to change and share aspirations for the future.”

Visitors are invited to create their own collage on Sunday 27 April — a small postcard-size base board and materials are provided. Participation is subject to space and children are welcome but need to be supervised by an adult.

The exhibition will be open from Sunday 27 April to Thursday 1 May from 10am to 3pm at Hamilton Hill Memorial Hall.  Entry and participation in the collage activity is free, for more information click here.

The research project is funded by the UWA Oceans Institute’s Better Oceans Program and is an endorsed United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development Action.  

The Rising Tides Studio is led by Mr Martin and Rosie Halsmith from UWA School of Design. The project is supported by the City of Cockburn and the City of Fremantle.