Source, 2012
Source is an installation focused on raising awareness surrounding water systems, use and ecology through combining sculpture, sound, photography and public programming. I developed this work during my trip to the Dogon villages of Andjoubolo, Pouroly, Soroly, and Sibi Sibi in Mali, and spending time with members of the YAGTU Shallot Co-operative discussing their daily lives. The project contributed to an existing relationship between US Lutherans and the Dogon community and was sponsored by the Lutheran World Relief Organization as part of their mission to broaden awareness of issues connected to water, women’s empowerment, and reducing global poverty. A main tenant of the partnership was to reinforce ties between the two communities through telling the story of women's stewardship of water in Mali by way of art, performance, and public programming.
Source was included in Water Sonettoes, a larger group exhibition and programming series I co-curated with Ryan Patterson at In/Flux Gallery, Baltimore, MD. In addition to Source, the exhibition included artwork by: Lisa Moren, Eileen Wold, Valeska Populoh, Katie O’Meara, Laure Drogoul, Greenpants, and Marian April Glebes.
West African textiles, archival inkjet prints, text, audio, steel, chrome, cast iron, soil, rice paper, wax, vinyl, water, shallots, video projection.
Dimensions variable
In the gallery, viewers were greeted by seven columns ranging in height from 6.5’ to 9’ tall, covered in colorful indigo dyed West African textiles coated in wax. Three of the columns contained a sound component from a trio of sound compositions called "Water Sonettos", which played as visitors walked among them. The sounds were recorded during my visit to the Dogon villages of Andjoubolo, Pouroly, Soroly, and Sibi Sibi in Mali, and capture conversations with women in the YAGTU shallot co-operative.
The exhibit featured portraits, transcripts and sound compositions made from interviews I conducted with the members of the YAGTU Co-op in the Dogon villages.
A woman reads the interview transcript of the Chief of Pouroly
Photographs of the women in the Shallot collective are presented along with transcripts of the recorded conversations.
Detail of Water Footprint, 2012
This sculpture is inspired by shallots, a staple crop for the women of YAGTU Co-op. Access to irrigation allows them to grow shallots, which return profit to pay for their families’ educational and medical needs. Composed of a steel plate, cast-iron shallots and an inflatable vinyl oval filled with water, Water Footprint references the volume of water used to produce shallots, a valuable foodstuff in the Dogon villages. Condensation and evaporation take place within the inflated form, giving the piece a life of its own.
A viewer inspects "Water Footprint", a sculpture bringing awareness about potable water depletion.
"Water Footprint", 54” x 38” x 5’. cast iron, steel, vinyl, water.
detail of Water Footprint
"Shallots" is a pair of two chrome plated onion bulbs placed on a thin layer of wood chips. Traditional sand molds were used to cast them in iron. The automotive chrome-plated polish references their value within the Dogon community. Through the sale of shallots, education, medicine, and other food can be acquired.
The exhibition includes seven elliptical columns ranging in height from 6.5' to 9' and with diameters between 13" - 17". Some are embedded with sound pieces made from recordings during my time in Mali
A woman leans in to listen to one of the elliptical columns that makes up part of the installation SOURCE - They covered in wax resisted and indigo dyed West African textiles that are arranged about the gallery.
Each column has an embedded sensor which, when triggered, plays a sound piece from "Water Sonettos", the trio of sound works recorded from my conversations with women in the Dogon villages I visited in Mali.
Exigency, 3 panels, 20” x 98” Inkjet print on hand-made Unryu rice paper
"Exigency" Detail
The exhibition included 3 of my videos:
short excerpt from Awareness, 4:44 video
short excerpt of Rainy Day (Hydrology), 3:36 video
short excerpt of Food Cycle, 4:55 video
Awareness, Rainy Day, and Food Cycle, some of my first video works. They were projected on a wall in the gallery and address states of the natural and man-made systems which surround us and provide our basic needs.
We included extensive community programming, including lectures, poetry readings, a dinner/reception, public workshops and school field trips
School trip to see the exhibition
soap-making workshop/family day
paper marbling workshop
