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NO WATER Installation


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Help share Rillito River’s message with the world.

Download the “NO WATER” photo by AP Gorny.

NO WATER by Peter Gorny
“NO WATER” by AP Gorny

Credits

“NO WATER” by AP Gorny is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

Terms of Use: This image is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic License. For use by individuals and organizations to build public awareness of the water crisis in the West. No commercial use. It can be shared but credit must be given to AP Gorny. 

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Contact

For more information or versions of the print, contact Ellen Skotheim.

NO WATER Installation

On February 15, 2022,  Tucson artist Ellen Benjoya Skotheim and New York artist Anthony Peter Gorny created and installed a neon sign bearing the words “NO WATER” in the bed of the dry Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona.   This installation is intended to draw much needed public attention to the ongoing Mega Drought, the longest and most severe drought in the western United States and Northern Mexico in at least 1200 years.  A study published in the journal “Nature Climate Change” concluded that human-caused climate change significantly contributes to the Mega Drought.

“NO WATER” is the latest installation of the Rillito River Project which fuses art and science to create ephemeral environmental installations and performance art events that call attention to the ongoing water crisis and climate change in the West which portend serious negative consequences to the quality of life of all people and animals living in the West.  Ellen Benjoya Skotheim is the founder and Creative Director of the Rillito River Project. 

“TO”


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Sheila_Rocha

“To” is the Dine’, or Navajo word for water.

The dance sequence in the video with the fervent and purely indigenous music is performed by a member of the Itelmen Nation by Tatiana Degai. The tribe is an indigenous nation on the eastern coast of Russia. Water is in such great abundance there that it is honored by way of acknowledgement of the many living beings, four legged, water and winged beings that reside there.

“To” from Shelia Rocha on Vimeo.

The dance she performs is a dance done by the maidens along the shore of the the water.  It is an old one that is done in the presence of the single young men of her people.  Tatiana’s dance is placed in juxtaposition with the environment of the desert and the words of the Dine’ actors/dancers who come from the arid climate of Arizona where water is prized since it is often times scarce.

Water as celebration, as sustenance, as a dying relative in this 21st century is honored as an ancient being comprised of pure spirit in this performance piece that engages the voice, movement and music of Native people who currently reside in Tucson, Arizona.