Craft / Fulcrum, by Aidan Hartshorn. At Canberra Glassworks until August 10. Reviewed by MEREDITH HINCHLIFFE

Aidan Hartshorn is a Walgalu/Wiradjuri artist.  His work challenges us to critically examine the environmental impacts of energy production through lighting and glass.

The Snowy Mountain Hydro-Electric Scheme is the focus of his exhibition.

Through a small number of exhibits, the destruction and disruption caused by this major and significant construction project we are made aware of the impact it had on the country around the site and continuing down the river.

Hartshorn has taken a museum accession numbering system, or GPS co-ordinates, to title artworks. Nevertheless, Hartshorn and his father have been able to practice and exchange skills, such as the crafting of a traditional stringybark canoe – a murrin. It is pierced with neon rods – blending the old with the new.

This artist also pairs Wee Jasper bluestone with neon rods, again linking the two types of material.

He is showing a glass work, Yirin Yiri, a diamond-shaped, gently curved piece of moulded glass in front of a vertical neon rod. It could be a shield or a protective cover.

Knapped glass chips have been grouped together. Dinner-plate sized discs of clear glass have been hammered, creating edges and surfaces that could resemble pieces of stone that are used for tools.

This exhibition could be seen as disturbing to some. The destruction of the land, when it was flooded, was just as confronting and distressing for the colonial settlers. No doubt few colonists gave a thought to the original landholders, who remain deeply connected to the waterways and lands of the high country.

This exhibition is a reminder – if one is needed – that our search for more environmental and sustainable sources of energy will inevitably cause consequences for some parts of the surrounding communities.