Danger Water

mixed media, 17 x 23

This is a relief print of a sewer cover right outside my house in a subdivision of Toronto, Canada. Collaged into these images are onomatopoeic words from eight different languages that are all sounds that water makes. Why is it that we humans hear the same sound, but choose different words to represent them? We say “drip, drip”, Estonians say “tilk, tilk” and Japanese “potan, potan”. The danger ultimately is not from water, but our inability to transcend our different languages and thought patterns.

This print was accepted by the City of Goodyear, AZ for its juried show, Colors of Diversity, at the Goodyear Public Library, March 2015.