WATER HORIZONS

Our surroundings help to shape our identity. it informs how we behave and how we interact with each other, and other entities. This in particular true for water. Many ancient cultures across the world believed that water holds memories, and it creates identities within the landscape it engages with.

In many spiritual and religious ceremonies, water rituals symbolize birth and life-giving. Water is as a philosophy. In the words of the writer, Emmi Itäranta, “Water is the most versatile of all elements. It isn’t afraid to burn in fire or fade into the sky, it doesn’t hesitate to shatter against sharp rocks in rainfall or drown into the dark shroud of the earth. It exists beyond all beginnings and ends.”

This series of paintings was created to explore the human relationship with water. They are informed by my experiences, photographs created by conservationists and nature lovers, and listening to the audiobook version of “We Are Displaced," by Malala Yousafzai, where young girls and women narrate their stories of escaping war zones through dangerous waterways. While the paintings show diverse relationships, they are connected together, through a geometric shape at the top of each painting. The colour of this shape leads to another colour palette in another painting, illustrating that water connects all of humanity, across time, and geography.