In this audio mediation, Marjetica Potrč talks about the referendum for water rights in Slovenia in 2021 and her collaboration with Uncle Ray Woods to make two visual essays titled The Rights of a River (2021) and The Life of the Lachlan River (2022). The drawings tell of the struggles of two rivers in different parts of the world: the Soča River in Slovenia and the Lachlan River in Australia in New South Wales. She invites the listener to consider rivers as a subject with whom we can foster a relationship with, rather than an object.

Following the mediation, the artist proposes three methods you might consider to better form a relationship with a river in your area. Read Marjetica’s methodology on how to meet a river here.

This meditation is the first of a three-part series by select artists in Maluw Adhil Urngu Padanu Mamuy Moesik (Legends from the deep sitting peacefully on the waters) – Selected works from the 23rd Biennale of Sydney: rīvus. Through poetry, song and storytelling, these offerings invite us to slow down and consider our connections to the natural world.