Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger
2023 Exhibitions
Aquatic Veridical is an exhibition that surveys Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger's 2021 journey as an 'artist at sea' onboard a research vessel (RV). Lea explores time, deep time and the truth about our oceans through various media to examine the underwater landscape, the technology that exposes it, and our human impact on this hidden environment. Lea joined the Schmidt Ocean Institute's, RV Falkor, as scientists mapped the ocean floor from Brisbane north into the Coral Sea Marine Park. They used multibeam sonar and bathymetry technology, coupled with its onboard computers,to translate this complex sonar code into recognisable open-source illustrations. Spaces once hidden by time are now exposed by technology that assists us to examine the role of humans in preserving these lands below the waves.The central images in this exhibition reformat this cutting-edge technology. Lea takes the vieweron a journey into the unseeable through these computer visualisations. Across various narratives, including drawings by hand and mechanical, painting, print media, video, sound and photography, Lea's time as the 'artist at sea' interprets these unseen andunknown underwater landscapes. This exhibition is a testament to the artists' role in making science and technology more accessible to everyone.
Antarctica - All to lose,
The Bowery Gallery, April 21 to June 8
Antarctica is the iconic landscape on many a traveller's 'Bucket List' and the focus of this exhibition. I explore how our contemporary consumer culture through tourism impacts remote locations. Through various mediums such as video, photography, sound, and installation, my exhibition exploits the relationship between wanting to preserve an environmentally critical ecosystem and the traveller's desire to go and explore such sensitive areas. Focusing on my onsite examination of Deception and Livingston Islands in Antarctica, and through my artistic lens, I expose the community to how remote places are being affected by not just our physical presence but also our presence from a distance.
Absence of Line
Art Est Sydney, March 3 to 28
This drawing exhibition by Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger examines 2 environments in a new and exciting way. Exploring the fringe between land and sea through mangrove drawings and then the ocean floor through text, Lea reveals to us the unseen or forgotten.
Using canvas and linen as the substrate for her mangrove drawings, Lea allows the material to evoke the mangroves' surface. Her drawings advocate for environmental change in our rivers and coastline. She exposes the beauty of these plants through chiaroscuro, juxtaposing the dark of a pessimistic future with the light of our hope for a changing world.
Beyond the coastline and into the Coral Sea Marine Park, Lea's drawing examinations will include works that began with her residency onboard the Schmidt Ocean Institutes research vessel, the Falkor. Taking the code used by computer systems to translate information gathered by multibeam sonar Lea takes you on an undersea land journey that only this code can reveal.
