Restoring Balance I In collaboration with Liz Dodson
Sculpted jade glass, stainless steel, water, video projection 96" x 32" x 48"
Restoring Balance recognizes that we are at the threshold of a global water crisis and seeks to present the predicament and creative interventions.
Women play a central role in water provision and management; women must be central in planning for the future. Today, women from all geographies, cultures, and traditions are grappling with the questions and challenges of what must be done to sustain water of the world, working from a variety of vantage points and perspectives. These expressions are a critical component to international dialogues about access to water and the need for creative solutions.
In December 2003, the United Nations Assembly proclaimed 2005–2015 the International Decade for Action, Water for Life to promote efforts fulfill international commitments made on water and water related issues. This includes the Millennium Development Goal to half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water by 2015.
The Women and Water Rights project addresses the precarious state of the world's fresh water supply and the global need for gender mainstreaming in water management. Through an art exhibition and related programs, WWR underscores the message that water access is a universal human right.
Restoring Balance II In collaboration with Liz Dodson
Sculpted jade glass, cast metal, video projection 4' x 4' x 8'
The latin roots for "sea" and "mother" are the same: "mer". We know that without water there is no life, just as without women, there would be no life. Our bodies, made mostly of water, are umbilically linked with the life-sustaining rivers, lakes, and oceans that comprise the majority of the body of our planet. Water moves through our landscapes and comes to us as rain and snow to grow the food that feeds us. This hydrologic cycle is a dance: between sun and moon, land and sky, gravity and evaporation, heat and cold,"masculine" and "feminine". Because we have lived in a culture expressing predominantly "masculine" values of intellect, building up, and taking action to meet short-term goals, the harmonious relationships of these forces have swung out of balance. How can the "feminine" qualities of intuition, creativity, and connection restore balance to the planet and meet the long-term needs of all who inhabit her? Like water, the "feminine" is gentle, but strong. Like water, the power of the "feminine" is powerful enough to rise up and reshape the world, restoring balance.
