Exhibition: What does water mean to us …? explored at Royal Museums Greenwich
From indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile to NHS reminders to wash your hands during Covid, an exhibition explores our connection to water in every way, writes Claudia Lee.
It is often seen as a resource, a survival necessity and a daily need – but water is so much more than just that.
Our Connection to Water at Royal Museums Greenwich in Romney Road, Deptford has opened, bringing together seven international artists.
Linking them is one question: what does water mean to us?
Seba Calfuqueo is a visual artist and a curator living and working in Santiago, Chile.
They are part of the Mapuche collective Rangiñtulewfü, indigenous inhabitants of south-central Chile.
Seba uses installation, ceramics, performance and video all to take a closer look at the social, cultural and political status of the Mapuche people in Chilean society today.
Taking a completely different take on the theme and the media she uses to portray it, Artemis Evlogimenou’s work focuses on presenting the invisible.
Her work looks at emotions and beliefs.
Artemis draws inspiration from three lifelong fascinations – anthropology, sound and nature and explores these topics through digital processes.
One of the artists, Giya Makondo-Wills, who’s photographic prints were inspired by the constant reminders to wash hands during Covid-19 said: “I began to think around the sanctity of water in respect to ritual and cleansing within ancestral and indigenous practices, whether it be the cleaning of a new born child or cleansing to wash away spirits.
“Access to clean water in relation to ancestral practice and cultural customs is often overlooked, so I combined these ideas and decided to illustrate these through a piece performing this new constant ritual in the sea.”
Some artists, like Giya Makondo-Wils, have taken a more urgent approach. Giya is a British-South African documentary photographer and visual artist.
She focuses on urgent matters of our time and how they relate to the history of marginalised communities.
Giya aims to challenge visual culture and the western gaze, recognising the role of the camera in writing new histories.
In a similar vein, Dafe Oboro works with photography and film to question ideas of masculinity in Nigeria.
Dafe aims to destabilize reductive understandings of African countries in mainstream media.
The exhibition will be shown at the Royal Museums Greenwich until January 2024.
Website: www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/national-maritime-museum/our-connection-water
Picture: Pour Me Water, Pure Water Picture: Dafe Oboro, Our Connection to Water