“The
power to heal, the power to kill. Oh, which will it be?” asks a performing artist
and writer, Darcey Blackstock, in his poem titled Blue Ecology, about water. On Mar. 22,
Blackstock read from his poem as part of the “Downstream: Reimagining Water”
project.
The
project was a series of performances, art exhibitions, readings, and film
screenings that explore our intimate relationship with water. Supported by
Emily Carr University, Downstream kicked off on Mar. 6 at the Concourse Gallery
and finished with a roaring round of applause Mar. 22.
There
are constant predictions of future wars over water, but Rita Wong, the project
coordinator, believes that “water can be a path to peace … whether people
imagine water as a commodity to be sold and bought by only those who can afford
it, or as a human right, or as a life-giving force, or as a commons that connects
us to all forms of life – people, animals, plants who also rely on the water
that we do – [water] has a major impact on the kinds of societies, communities
and futures that we build towards.”
The
project began as a response to Dorothy Christian, a writer and video artist who
is part of the Okanagan-Secwepemc Nations in B.C.’s interior, as well as Denise
Nadeau, interim director of the Interfaith Summer Institute for Justice, Peace
& Social Movements. Both women held great concerns about the many threats
to the world’s water.
Christian
and Nadeau organized a public forum called “Protect our Sacred Waters”,
gathering people from many different traditions to voice their ideas and
knowledge on the “Sacredness of Water.” Rita Wong was unable to attend the event,
but was keen on the initiative. She found out that “nobody Chinese showed up,
so [I] kind of felt like [I] wanted to take that on, that [my] community wasn’t
dealing with those questions well enough,” she explained.
Rita
Wong decided to “address a gap that should not have existed,” as she tells 12th
grade student Rachel Shin in an interview on Open Book Toronto.
Wong
has worked with people in a range of different fields for the Downstream
project, from artists and environmentalists, to Indigenous elders, each with
their own unique insight on water, this substance that “shapes and changes us.”
Wong says that she “likes to do her bit to help build a cultural shift, one
that really values our watersheds, and understands how important they are to
our lives.” Downstream is about bringing forth an environmental awareness on a
global scale, but more importantly, to make us aware of what’s “within us,” she
explains.
The
project weaves conventional Western thought with the traditions of Indigenous
elders. One of the presenters, Jeff Bear of the Maliseet nation, is an
award-winning producer, writer, and director of independent documentaries. He
remarked that “the pursuit of an Indigenous voice is embodied in all of [the artists’]
work.”
Michael
Blackstock agrees. He uses his paintings, carvings, and poetry as a form of
storytelling. In discussion of his most recent work, Blue Ecology, the
unifying potential of water, Blackstock emphasizes that there is “so much flexibility with
poetry,” and that he tries to capture the attention of a vast audience by using
science to introduce his theories on water, as well as the wisdom and knowledge
that he has obtained from Indigenous elders to show that water has a spiritual
side to it.
“I
don’t care if people aren’t buying my books now, I’m writing for two or three
generations down the road, for those who will have very little time to think
about how to solve the world’s problems,” he says, matter-of-factly.
“My
people will sleep for one hundred years, but when they awake, it will be the
artists who give them their spirit back,” says Jeff Bear in the same vein,
quoting Louis Riel. The artists are the “unpaid civil servants,” as he puts it,
“we aren’t getting paid for our work here.”
Since
the first cave drawing, nature has inspired art. The artists of the Downstream
project are using their works to remind the masses that nature is what keeps us
alive, and that we must not “take it for granted,” says Wong.
Water
keeps flowing, keeps moving forward, forever changing. The Downstream project
also keeps “morphing,” as do those who donate their time and art.
“It’s
evolving and ongoing,” Wong says. “Art and culture are really important in
terms of raising awareness of the problems that we face, but also encouraging
resilience and creative thinking and creative solutions,” says Wong. Through her
work, she hopes to “encourage people to be more conscious of water, to educate
themselves in where it comes from, and where it goes.”
For
more information, go to http://downstream.ecuad.ca/
//Alexandra Thompson, writer
//Graphics by JJ Brewis
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