To Live by the Water
Work produced during residency at LaBecque
I focused on the notion of what it means to live by the water. Through speculative fiction, I connected my stay on the shores of Lake Leman to the experience of living next to the Kakhovska Reservoir in Southern Ukraine, specifically in anticipation of its destruction.
During my residency, I developed a ritual to help me embody this idea. Every day, I wake up and gaze at the man-made sea, trying to imagine myself within it. I swim daily, eager to utilize its full potential. As I reach the middle of the sea, I envision dozens of settlements buried beneath me. I picture the water receding – not gradually, but in an instant – leaving me alone in its wake. Then, I watch as a forest begins to grow in its place.
In these tense moments of waiting for water to disappear, I printed a map using a self-made drawing machine of the flooded landscape a day after the destruction of the dam on June 7
Photography: Aurélien Haslebacher
I focused on the notion of what it means to live by the water. Through speculative fiction, I connected my stay on the shores of Lake Leman to the experience of living next to the Kakhovska Reservoir in Southern Ukraine, specifically in anticipation of its destruction.
During my residency, I developed a ritual to help me embody this idea. Every day, I wake up and gaze at the man-made sea, trying to imagine myself within it. I swim daily, eager to utilize its full potential. As I reach the middle of the sea, I envision dozens of settlements buried beneath me. I picture the water receding – not gradually, but in an instant – leaving me alone in its wake. Then, I watch as a forest begins to grow in its place.
In these tense moments of waiting for water to disappear, I printed a map using a self-made drawing machine of the flooded landscape a day after the destruction of the dam on June 7
Photography: Aurélien Haslebacher
«Revealing Landscape» Film produced during the residency at @la_becque
In preparation for 4S Conference in Amsterdam.
The machine is slowly revealing the landscape, as the dam reveals the river as a technological system,
as the lake is revealed to be a memorial to what was there before—
a constant reminder of destruction and subjugation.
