Bodies, Water, & Spirit Realm

Residency with Works on Water/UnderwaterNY at Governor’s Island

The project, Bodies, Water, and Spirit Realm is a meditation on the healing of generational trauma and strives to honor indigenous life. This work explores work that reflects on the loss of human life in the bodies of water around NYC, including the area of Pagganuck (Governor’s Island), at the beginnings of settler colonialism. In the book, The Saltwater Frontier by Andrew Lipman, it discusses the trade, warfare, and death that occurred in the waters along the east coast and describes how instrumental they were for colonization and the forming of America. The water surrounding Pagganuck provides a reflective surface for visualizations that inform the new work and allows me to contemplate how the historical past of the surrounding bodies of water connects with and continues to affect our present. Through these visions I reimagine the potential for a different and better future.