Monday, May 5, 2014
On a Painted Ocean
Day after day, day after day,
We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.
Water, water, every where,
And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
(text of 1834)
I always felt a kinship to Coleridge, a funky romantic poet. The perfection of his rime scheme lead many
scholars to believe Coleridge lied about the drug-induced stupor he professed
produced Kubla Khan. Maybe I felt the
kinship because of the quirky 80’s “Frankie Goes to Hollywood” Album Welcome to the Pleasure Dome, a
Coleridge allusion or maybe it was because my Dad could and did (often) recite,
in full, the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Whatever the original inspiration, Coleridge,
with his strange connections of the natural and spiritual world, reminded me of
the Greeks with events on earth often having dramatic implications in heaven
and consequently on Mankind. Coleridge has been my life long friend, giving
words to pictures in my head.
It’s only
natural that my research about water, as an artistic project, would begin with
words from the poet Coleridge.
Water, water everywhere but not a
drop to drink.
For my personal project, I began researching water issues in the
United States. From the earliest readings in our class, I felt a resonance with
the artists working in focusing on water.
I began my creative process with a few questions to answer:
How long can
we go without things necessary for life?
What are the
spiritual implications of our treatment of the natural world?
What happens
when we fear what we need most?
Back to Coleridge
In the Rime of the Ancient
Mariner, the mariner, someone who lives on the water, kills an albatross.
This bird has served as a guide and has led his ship out of danger. With that deed, the ship becomes idle on the water.
The natural world ceases to aid the ship or the mariners in any way. The winds
die and the ship stalls. The other
sailors tie the dead albatross around the mariner’s neck. Then, all but the ancient mariner die of
thirst—because although they are in the middle of a large body of water, none
is fit to drink. But that's not all; the
spiritual realm also punishes the mariner.
The ship is haunted with specters and ghosts. Only when the mariner
makes peace with the natural world, does his curse lift. The albatross drops from around his neck and
angels help guide him to shore.
Are we as a society committing acts against Nature so that the
natural world and the Spiritual world are looking for restoration?
Although
Coleridge offers so many levels which to discuss this, I am going to focus on
the issue of water.
I asked more
questions:
What do we
do when we are afraid of water, afraid to get in it, afraid to drink it?
How do we
move off of our “painted ship on a painted ocean”?
How do we
begin to move again and begin to remedy with the natural world?
Who owns
water? What do we do next?
A search for answers
According to Live Science, “If you're ever stuck out in the
wilderness, remember what survival experts call 'the Rule of Threes'.
You can live
3 minutes without air, though we don't recommend trying. In a harsh
environment — it's snowing, say — you have 3 hours to survive
without shelter. After 3 days, you need water or you'll perish. You can make it
3 weeks without food, though we promise you that won't be fun.” (Binns)
What
if we can no longer drink water? We can
go weeks without food before we die. We
can go only 48 hours without water before our bodies begin to shut down.
“Water flows
through the blood, carrying oxygen and nutrients to cells and flushing wastes
out of our bodies. It cushions our joints and soft tissues. Without water as a
routine part of our intake, we cannot digest or absorb food. “(Binns)
Given this information my fundamental question is: What happens
when we begin to fear something that is essential to our life?
A little history of society and water
Since the beginnings of our western culture, for agriculture to
thrive, for industry to thrive, water was essential. From the earliest days of using river floods
for irrigation, water was elemental to farming.
Even later, as we moved to the Industrial Age, factories were built by
rivers, in order to have hydro energy, as in a mill or a dumping sewer, as with
many of our 19th century factories.
Now, water rights are becoming as important in the sale of the land as
the mineral rights. Strangely, through the
oil industries use of fracking to push oil out of the ground, water rights and
water quality begin to merge as joint concerns.
Who owns the water?
According to the Texas Water Rites website through Texas ATM
University, “In Texas, water rights depend on whether the water is groundwater
or surface water.
Generally,
Texas groundwater belongs to the landowner. Groundwater is governed by the rule
of capture, which grants landowners the right to capture the water beneath
their property. The landowners do not own the water but have a right only to
pump and capture whatever water is available, regardless of the effects of that
pumping on neighboring wells.
Surface
water, on the other hand, belongs to the state of Texas. It can be used by a
landowner only with the state's permission.” (Texas Water Rites) Surface water
exists as rivers and streams.
How is water part of creation?
Water is elemental, primordial part of creation. Even in the religious text of Genesis, God
moves over the water before he asks for light.
As part of
my inspiration, I began thinking about my personal experience with water as a
form of creation and expression.
First, I
thought of water in relationship to art and to sculpture. Rivers sculpt the landscape.
Water
sculpts internal caverns in aquifers. We use a medium which is water based in
watercolor paints.
But more personally and artistically, one of my artistic influences
was a very old Columbian sculptor, Luis Alfonso Valderama Sanchez. In the
era when Machu Picchu was first discovered, many archeologists, artists and
adventurers turned their interest to the Andean mountains. In these mountains, a
water temple was discovered in the early 1920's. On the expedition to explore
the temple, called St. Augustine, was an American archeologist and several
other importantly skilled persons.
Sanchez was one of the expedition members and was to draw the way things
were found, the pottery and to interpret the whole site in drawings.
I have one of the few copies of the book detailing this dig. The
fold-out pictures of the temple are drawn by Sanchez. The temple was quite
amazingly engineered. Water was let out of an aqueduct and would flow around
monumental sculptures of frogs and lizards. As the water flowed around
them, these sculptural animals would appear to be resting in the water. These
sculptures were monoliths carved from giant pieces of stone. In the St
Augustine complex, water was elemental. The water temple, like Coleridge’s Rime
, highlights the need for unity in the natural and spiritual world. In many ways, water is that unifier.
When thinking about Sanchez’s book, as a source of inspiration. I wanted to use a book as a foundation for my project; a book about water as fundamental. Another question arose. How then, could I
make a book to show the fear of water? Could the book illustrate fear; someone afraid to drink the water and afraid to bathe in the water? I wanted to make a book were every symbol
would count. Iconographically, it would
resonate. What could I rely on to make a
connection with my viewers? How could I get the viewer involved? —To move us
out of the painted ocean into real life. How could I begin to show a need for
unity in the Natural and spiritual world?
As I began considering these small
things, I thought through water symbolism. I found myself thinking about my
children, my two sons, as well as the children who come through the museums, and my responsibility to them. Through this research, I formed my
ideas about the symbols I wanted to use for my personal project.
What is the Project?
The concept:
to layer meanings
To merge new
and old processes
To engage
the viewer in active participation rather than simply passive on looking
To create a
collage using a mix of print media and double-entendres
The Binding
(Map Book):
By using a government document, I wanted to connect water issues
with federal agencies. I used and aerial flight map of Florida for
several reasons.
First, I
wanted to get a bird’s eye view of the topic- to connect to water from a
different perspective. Second, the
aerial map book’s proper name is U.S. Terminal Procedures Publication.
Figuratively, Industry and policy combine to create an environment where our
cultural practices with water is, in fact a “terminal procedure”. Without
intervention our waterways and the life dependent on the waterways will be at
great risk. In many regards, our environmental water policy is a terminal
procedure.
Third, Miami
is often cited as one of the most vulnerable cities with regards to water
issues. It is victim to many hurricanes and its water table can easily
get flooded with salt water—affecting the drinking water. The Everglades, which
is technically a low wide river, is at risk.
Finally, the map is from 2012. This is 110 years from the film I
deconstructed.
The paper is
similar to the paper used in the St Augustine book.
Deconstruction
and Content:
I wanted to deconstruct a film and create an old flip
book—something that instead of just watching a film, you have to put your hands
on to make it work. The viewer has to participate or there will no longer
be anything to view. The picture stops. To work the flipbook, is an
imperfect act. Similarly, there are unexpected pauses in the less than
perfect work we do. It can be slow. It can stop but we need to see the
storyline to the end.
I
deconstructed an early film of Hawaii 1902. Children are diving from a
pier. As they frolic in the water, boats pass by them in the harbor.
Industry and people using clean water together. There is one hesitant
boy. He won’t jump. He is too frightened to participate. All the
other children have entered the water. They pass the boy, as he stands
nervously on the edge, afraid to enter the water. In the last frame, he
jumps.
This wordless story line symbolizes my view on the need for
participation and harmony. This
parallels my perception of the need for actual hands on work to rehabilitate
our water and waterways. If we do not
put our hands to working with policy and pollutions, there will be nothing left
to see. And in the end, we all must get into the water.
Where will water take me?
The importance of water quality, reminded me of a 2012
50th anniversary of Rachel Carson’s pivotal book The Silent Spring (1962).
Although Rachel Carson was discussing pesticides and other harmful chemicals,
she could have been talking about the chemicals used in fracking or in our
industries today when she said, “I contend, furthermore we have allowed these
chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on
soil, water, wildlife, and man himself. Future generations are unlikely to
condone our lack of prudent concern for the integrity of natural world that
supports all life”. (Carson, 1962, pg. 130.)
With great wisdom, Carson understood the need for conscientious
dealing with nature because ultimately our deeds will stay with us. We
are all connected to the natural world and we need to nurture that
relationship. To the end of a “prudent concern for the integrity of the natural
world,” we must ask ourselves the questions implicit Carson’s statements. How
are we connected to the natural world? How do we support that natural world
which supports all life? Are we wiser in our dealings today?
My work in this
area is not finished. I will continue to
look at maps and layer meaning on them. As I research, I hope that I am wiser each
morning and that I am unifying the natural and spiritual world. I will start with the issue of water.
He went like one that hath been stunned,
And is of sense forlorn:
A sadder and a wiser man,
He rose the morrow morn.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (text of 1834)SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
References:
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