KNOWING YOUR WATER
Knowing Your Water, 2015 Sculpture at Duke Hall Critique Space, James Madison University
KNOWING YOUR WATER evokes reflection on developing an empathic relationship to water. Constructed from a salvaged 16-foot Mad River Canoe, this transformed vessel is illuminated with a cover of hand-stitched photographic negatives. The outside of the canoe is painted and marked with fire and smoke. Rows of test tubes surround the canoe, holding water collected from rivers, lakes and ocean that have been sources of nourishment. The intimacy of the memories embedded in the photos represent a capturing of the relationships that sustain as well. Both symbolize a way of holding time for examination, a chance to consider and change course before being carried toward our destination.
An essay in Alice Walker’s We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For influenced this work, especially a poem she quotes from the Hopi Elders of Oraibi, Arizona (see below). The poem and essay alert us to awaken to the eleventh hour and the need to understand the practices that will support each of us during difficult times. As an environmental call to action, we are asked to gather ourselves—know our gardens, our waterways and our communities. On reflection, the following path of inquiry flowed from this reimagined canoe and gathered water: How well do we know our most essential and fundamental companion, water? What if we treated water in a way that is as sacred to us as our family and friends? If we were to do this, how would we respond to our waters as they are abused and destroyed?
An essay in Alice Walker’s We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For influenced this work, especially a poem she quotes from the Hopi Elders of Oraibi, Arizona (see below). The poem and essay alert us to awaken to the eleventh hour and the need to understand the practices that will support each of us during difficult times. As an environmental call to action, we are asked to gather ourselves—know our gardens, our waterways and our communities. On reflection, the following path of inquiry flowed from this reimagined canoe and gathered water: How well do we know our most essential and fundamental companion, water? What if we treated water in a way that is as sacred to us as our family and friends? If we were to do this, how would we respond to our waters as they are abused and destroyed?
We have been telling the people that this is the
Eleventh Hour
Now we must go back and tell the people this is the
Hour
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time.
There is a river flowing now very fast
It is so great and swift that there are those who will
Be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore
They will feel they are being torn apart and they
will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The Elders say we must let go of the shore, and
Push off and into the river, keep our eyes open, and
our head above the water.
See who is in there with you and Celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing
personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth
and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselvesBanish the word “struggle” from your attitude and
your vocabulary.
All that you do now must be done in a sacred
manner
And in celebration.
“We are the ones we have been waiting for…”
-The Elders, Hopi Nation, Oraibi, Arizona
This is not a time to live without a practice. It is a time when all of us will need the most faithful, self-generated enthusiasm (enthusiasm: to be filled with god) in order to survive in human fashion. Whether we reach this inner state of recognized divinity through prayer, meditation, dancing, swimming, walking, feeding the hungry or enriching the impoverished is immaterial. We will be doubly bereft without some form of practice that connects us, in a carrying way, to what begins to feel like a dissolving world.
In addition to contemplating the Hopi message: know your garden and where is your water, we must also ask: What is my practice? What is steering this boat that is my fragile human life?
-Alice Walker, excerpt from We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For
Eleventh Hour
Now we must go back and tell the people this is the
Hour
And there are things to be considered:
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your truth.
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time.
There is a river flowing now very fast
It is so great and swift that there are those who will
Be afraid.
They will try to hold on to the shore
They will feel they are being torn apart and they
will suffer greatly.
Know the river has its destination.
The Elders say we must let go of the shore, and
Push off and into the river, keep our eyes open, and
our head above the water.
See who is in there with you and Celebrate.
At this time in history, we are to take nothing
personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do, our spiritual growth
and journey comes to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselvesBanish the word “struggle” from your attitude and
your vocabulary.
All that you do now must be done in a sacred
manner
And in celebration.
“We are the ones we have been waiting for…”
-The Elders, Hopi Nation, Oraibi, Arizona
This is not a time to live without a practice. It is a time when all of us will need the most faithful, self-generated enthusiasm (enthusiasm: to be filled with god) in order to survive in human fashion. Whether we reach this inner state of recognized divinity through prayer, meditation, dancing, swimming, walking, feeding the hungry or enriching the impoverished is immaterial. We will be doubly bereft without some form of practice that connects us, in a carrying way, to what begins to feel like a dissolving world.
In addition to contemplating the Hopi message: know your garden and where is your water, we must also ask: What is my practice? What is steering this boat that is my fragile human life?
-Alice Walker, excerpt from We Are The Ones We Have Been Waiting For