Artists Treading Water Statement
Water is our lifeblood: our bodies are made from it;
Our daily life depends on it;
Our spirits draw nourishment from it.
In Michigan, we are surrounded by water;
It defines who we are as a state and as a people.
Yet, it seems at times, we are the first to take our water for granted.
Water is a spiritual as well as a physical medium that sustains
And nurtures all the inhabitants, past, present and future, of this fragile earth.
It is life, always touching even when the cool wet life-blood is not felt upon our skin.
Our ancestral memory and myth whisper to us the power and sacredness of water.
It tells us we are born of water;
It tells us we are carried into the afterlife upon water.
Water is a vehicle of spiritual transformation;
We are cleansed by immersion in water.
Yet these ripples of water, which sustain our bodies, spirits, and souls,
Are often unseen, unacknowledged, or tragically ignored.
Water has always played an important part in my life,
Though, it was not until 2005 that water asserted itself as an important in my art.
Through several installations and performances,
I have become seduced by all aspects of water:
As a necessity,
As a luxury,
As a commodity,
As an integral part of spirituality.
In this exhibition I have included two artworks that have been birthed through water.
In this exhibition, the boats are the second incarnation of the installation
…and the children shall inherit the land flowing with milk and honey.
It is the third version of installation addressing water as our life-blood-turn-commodity.
This installation explores the many cultural and spiritual layers of water.
It started with Nestle/Ice Mountain’s commodification and export of spring and glacial water
Out of Michigan’s aquifers in Big Rapids and Evert,
All of which was and still is subsidized by our state.
This was an issue that was at one time was in the forefront of environmental and political
Debate in Mid-Michigan.
Unfortunately, now such debate has faded to the background
As Irreplaceable glacial water is still, over 10 years later,
Being pumped from our Great Lakes Basin and sold
At the expense of the natural environment:
Rivers and wells continue to run dry;
Wildlife habitats continue to be destroyed.
We are connected.
The draining of irreplaceable glacial water from our earth is the syringe withdrawing
Our body’s sustaining life-blood.
The political aspects of water are undeniable and inseparable
From the social and spiritual attributes.
The pumping goes on, unimpeded and subsidized by our state government,
Until, the aquifers go dry and Ice Mountain moves on,
Leaving our future generations with only a memory of the water that once was.
…and the children…
Once again, water has moved to the forefront of our cultural and political consciousness
As we discovered that our Life-blood was being poisoned by the elite.
In the last two years, water,
Continuing to be understood by our government as a commodity,
Or, worse, purported to be a way to save money,
Has resulted in the poisoning of a city, Our City.
The once great city of Flint is in the midst of a painful rebirth;
She is a phoenix struggling her way out of the fire to emerge stronger, more vital than ever.
But, her rebirth has been hindered; her life-sustaining yolk, tainted.
Her most vulnerable populations made even more vulnerable;
Her people deemed as inconsequential.
Water treated carelessly while ignoring legislated safeguards…
All in the name of money.
…and the children shall inherit…
We are connected; veins of water connect us.
Now our life-blood carries the life-altering element of lead into our most sacred bodies,
Our children.
The lead-heavy water intermingles with the blood until the two are forever inseparable,
Forever influencing, and at times hindering, the rhythms of our bodies.
The children will carry this heaviness in their blood,
Causing challenges yet unknown,
For the rest of their days...
This moment’s political implications of water are
Undeniable and inseparable from the social and spiritual.
Michigan’s water is being pumped and sold at the expense of the natural environment;
Flint’s water is contaminated,
Poisoning our elders, our brothers, our sisters, and our children.
Our life-blood is abused for short-term profit,
And to long-term detriment.
Populations were and are poisoned,
As politicians secretly counted their 30 pieces of silver and
Quietly began to drink the clear, imported water from plastic bottles,
The same bottles that deplete our clean aquifers.
Now our sacred life-blood must be carried into our poisoned city
To healthfully sustain those the love of money has poisoned.
Our life-blood is portioned out in cups, bowls, and bottles,
Leaving our future generations with only a memory of the water that once was…
…and our children shall inherit a land flowing…
This incarnation of
…and the children shall inherit the land flowing with milk and honey.
Water is our lifeblood: our bodies are made from it;
Our daily life depends on it;
Our spirits draw nourishment from it.
In Michigan, we are surrounded by water;
It defines who we are as a state and as a people.
Yet, it seems at times, we are the first to take our water for granted.
Water is a spiritual as well as a physical medium that sustains
And nurtures all the inhabitants, past, present and future, of this fragile earth.
It is life, always touching even when the cool wet life-blood is not felt upon our skin.
Our ancestral memory and myth whisper to us the power and sacredness of water.
It tells us we are born of water;
It tells us we are carried into the afterlife upon water.
Water is a vehicle of spiritual transformation;
We are cleansed by immersion in water.
Yet these ripples of water, which sustain our bodies, spirits, and souls,
Are often unseen, unacknowledged, or tragically ignored.
Water has always played an important part in my life,
Though, it was not until 2005 that water asserted itself as an important in my art.
Through several installations and performances,
I have become seduced by all aspects of water:
As a necessity,
As a luxury,
As a commodity,
As an integral part of spirituality.
In this exhibition I have included two artworks that have been birthed through water.
In this exhibition, the boats are the second incarnation of the installation
…and the children shall inherit the land flowing with milk and honey.
It is the third version of installation addressing water as our life-blood-turn-commodity.
This installation explores the many cultural and spiritual layers of water.
It started with Nestle/Ice Mountain’s commodification and export of spring and glacial water
Out of Michigan’s aquifers in Big Rapids and Evert,
All of which was and still is subsidized by our state.
This was an issue that was at one time was in the forefront of environmental and political
Debate in Mid-Michigan.
Unfortunately, now such debate has faded to the background
As Irreplaceable glacial water is still, over 10 years later,
Being pumped from our Great Lakes Basin and sold
At the expense of the natural environment:
Rivers and wells continue to run dry;
Wildlife habitats continue to be destroyed.
We are connected.
The draining of irreplaceable glacial water from our earth is the syringe withdrawing
Our body’s sustaining life-blood.
The political aspects of water are undeniable and inseparable
From the social and spiritual attributes.
The pumping goes on, unimpeded and subsidized by our state government,
Until, the aquifers go dry and Ice Mountain moves on,
Leaving our future generations with only a memory of the water that once was.
…and the children…
Once again, water has moved to the forefront of our cultural and political consciousness
As we discovered that our Life-blood was being poisoned by the elite.
In the last two years, water,
Continuing to be understood by our government as a commodity,
Or, worse, purported to be a way to save money,
Has resulted in the poisoning of a city, Our City.
The once great city of Flint is in the midst of a painful rebirth;
She is a phoenix struggling her way out of the fire to emerge stronger, more vital than ever.
But, her rebirth has been hindered; her life-sustaining yolk, tainted.
Her most vulnerable populations made even more vulnerable;
Her people deemed as inconsequential.
Water treated carelessly while ignoring legislated safeguards…
All in the name of money.
…and the children shall inherit…
We are connected; veins of water connect us.
Now our life-blood carries the life-altering element of lead into our most sacred bodies,
Our children.
The lead-heavy water intermingles with the blood until the two are forever inseparable,
Forever influencing, and at times hindering, the rhythms of our bodies.
The children will carry this heaviness in their blood,
Causing challenges yet unknown,
For the rest of their days...
This moment’s political implications of water are
Undeniable and inseparable from the social and spiritual.
Michigan’s water is being pumped and sold at the expense of the natural environment;
Flint’s water is contaminated,
Poisoning our elders, our brothers, our sisters, and our children.
Our life-blood is abused for short-term profit,
And to long-term detriment.
Populations were and are poisoned,
As politicians secretly counted their 30 pieces of silver and
Quietly began to drink the clear, imported water from plastic bottles,
The same bottles that deplete our clean aquifers.
Now our sacred life-blood must be carried into our poisoned city
To healthfully sustain those the love of money has poisoned.
Our life-blood is portioned out in cups, bowls, and bottles,
Leaving our future generations with only a memory of the water that once was…
…and our children shall inherit a land flowing…
This incarnation of
…and the children shall inherit the land flowing with milk and honey.