Back Home, In the Water
Savi Ross
1 Oct–1 Dec 2025
I remember visiting this place all the time, up in Gimuy on Djabugay Country. Walking up the impossibly steep hill as a child, all the way up there, where the waterfalls splash. Always letting the water embrace me, even in the self-consciousness of youth. Wavering on the edges as an adult and always always always thinking about when my next visit might be.
Decades later, it has the same soundscape: steady water, families laughing in nearby rockpools, birds flying to their homes overhead. I’m sure they can smell the freshwater and know they are home, just like me. We’d all become temporary neighbours, basking in the sun, made even warmer by the encircling rainforest.
Just splash some water on yourself if it gets too hot.
Though I’m over 2,000 kilometers away now, this is one of my homes - this place, these moments. I’m collecting homes, like colourful fridge magnets; Cairns, Melbourne, Alabama; the rockpools and beaches; my grandparents’ old house, a long street I once walked up and down everyday, an old set of eyes. Other places, still.
A moment like this is captured here in this moving image - folks slowly entering the bubbling water, taking their time and feeling at home despite the cold shock of the water. The water is always hurriedly flowing, but makes space for these visitors, curving around their bodies. A very wet hug.
* Work featured: ‘Back Home, In The Water’, 2025, moving image, Savi Ross. Courtesy of the artist.
Blindside’s Screen Series presents curated online programming, led by leading arts organisations and local artists and curators. For this iteration of the program, Agency Projects has partnered with Solid Lines to curate ‘Back Home, In the Water’ - an online exhibition by artist Savi Ross.
Inspired by waterfall swimming in Gimuy on Djabugay Country and the warm home of water. Moments captured in a moving image; folks slowly entering the bubbling water, the water making space for their bodies.
Splash some water on yourself if it gets too hot.
This program takes place on the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded - this land is stolen land. We pay respects to Wurundjeri Elders, past, present and emerging, to the Elders from other communities and to any other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who might encounter or participate in the program.
Savi Ross is an African American, Torres Strait Islander artist, excited by digital illustration, creative storytelling, and Black joy. Savi was born and raised in Gimuy (Cairns) and now lives and works on Wurundjeri Country in Narrm (Melbourne). Savi's work is often inspired by these places; the hugging mountains of Cairns and slow life as a young person in the 2000s; and the vibrancy of Naarm—two places that are in many ways different and sometimes similar. Often Savi's illustrations are expressed through printed materials, to think about what community means; our public vs private lives; and the complexities of family, bodies, and intimacy.
Solid Lines with Agency Projects- Agency Projects has partnered with Solid Lines to curate this iteration of the Blindside Screen Series.
Solid Lines is a First Nations led illustration agency fuelled by a constant connection to identity, culture and Country.
Agency is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander not-for-profit that responds to an identified need expressed by cultural leaders, which resonates with Government priorities, academic research and the voice of innovative philanthropists who care deeply about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, art and Country.
