Confluence susan shantz
Gabriela Garcia-Luna
figure 1: Streams, rivers, lakes and delta marshland of the Saskatchewan watershed traced in blue ink from a cartographic source map. (figure 5 )
Water Basin II , coloured pen on paper; 45.7 x 31.8 x 3.2 cm (each panel), 2019
My recent art exhibition, Confluence , uses contemporary cartographic road maps as source material to search for an alternative, watershed map of the Saskatchewan River from source to delta and ocean across three prairie provinces. 1 Using drawing, embroidery and large-scale cutwork tarps, I explored my river connection to the place where I live in Saskatoon which is divided and defined by water on the prairie. By tracing the currents of streams and rivers with ink, thread, paint and cut-outs, I followed meandering water lines that interrupt the boundaries of the regulated prairie grid, connecting my point on the river to humans and more-than-humans 2 upstream and down.
What if my territory of belonging were defined by the course of water rather than land? Might I discover the point of view of a river with my pencil/pen/needle/knife? Draw, stitch and cut my way through the overlaid network of occupation to the find the undercurrents of water in the watershed territory I inhabit? Confluence contrasts the fragmentation and gridding of the prairie through surveying and mapping with the less visible path of water.
1 The Saskatchewan River delta, the largest inland delta in North America, spans the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border near Cumberland House, Saskatchewan connecting Treaty 5, 6 and 10 territories with many Cree and Metis inhabitants. It is considered the terminus of the Saskatchewan River watershed after which its waters become 15.4% of the water in the Nelson River which flows into Hudson's Bay. Accessed 21 Nov. 2022. 2 'more-than-human' – a term used in some academic disciplines to question the binary of human/nonhuman and culture/nature.
https://www.hydro.mb.ca/assets/img/figurebox/dry-conditions-arent-only-factor-in-mh-water-supply-2.png
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on site review 42: atlas :: being in place
:: complex systems
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