The Cube: Diana Baker Smith

Diana Baker Smith’s exhibition traces the movement and rhythms of two port cities: Cobh Harbour in Ireland and Sydney Harbour in Australia. Filmed across the water and along the shorelines, the work observes the ebb and flow of boats, people and tides, evoking the murky histories of maritime trade and migration that connect these sites.  

Trace a Piece of Water follows a series of waterways in Australia and Ireland, all connected through intertwined histories of colonisation. The title recalls an early instruction, issued in 1789 by Governor Phillip, for an expeditionary party to ‘trace a piece of water’, following rivers and creeks to map the country inland from Sydney Harbour.  In this installation, simple filming scores, shot on Super 8, were traced while walking along riverbanks, harbours, and coastlines, attending to the movement and play of light on the water’s surface. Installed across multiple screens, the work brings these tracings into relation through repetition, interruption, and the material rhythms of Super 8 film, inviting the viewer to consider the role waterways have played in shaping our understanding of land in the wake of British colonisation.