Artists Sonia Leber, David Chesworth and UK Frederick had the chance to follow groups of scientists on expeditions to remote locations in the Northern Territory and the Kimberley, and watch them investigate Australia's cultural and natural history over the past 130,000 years.

Read more: Why Thirroul's esteemed Egg and Dart Gallery is leaving town

The result is two stunning artworks inspired from their experiences, which have been acquired for the UOW Art Collection and are now on show at the UOW Gallery until July 13.

"The ... works are exceptional in how the artist's practice has merged the worlds of art and science," UOW Art Collection Manager Karen Cass said.

Where Lakes Once Had Water, commissioned in association with Bundanon, is an immersive long-form video that emerges from fieldwork conducted alongside Traditional Owners and communities in spectacular settings at Lake Woods, Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) and Girraween Lagoon in the Northern Territory.

"[It] contemplates how the Earth is experienced and understood through different ontologies - ways of being, seeing, sensing, listening and thinking - that reverberate across art, Indigenous thought, science, ancient and modern cultures, the non-human, and in between," Leber and Chesworth said.

Read more: Screen industry is growing in the Illawarra - and it needs workers

Unseeded is a collection of 35 hand-blown glass boab nut forms developed in collaboration with CABAH's Distinguished Professor Sue O'Connor from The Australian National University.

The artwork reflects upon the archaeological survey process, which Frederick observed during a fieldwork trip to Ningbing Range in the Kimberley region in Western Australia with Miriuwung Gajerrong Traditional Owners and rangers.

"Each of the glass forms emulates the physical shape of a boab nut, but they are also intended to act as a kind of lens," Frederick said.

"This is an important connection for me, as an artist who works with photography, and as a reminder of the conceptual qualities of a lens in shaping how the world is seen. A lens can reveal, but it can also magnify and distort; different lenses create different visions."

The exhibition was created in partnership with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH).

CABAH researcher Associate Professor Tim Cohen led the Northern Territory excursion and said the art-science collaboration represents a novel joining of different perspectives and ways of seeing landscapes.

The works will be on display in UOW Gallery until 13 July 2022.

To read more stories, download the Illawarra Mercury news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.