NAGB team member, Natalie Willis, shares her assessment of Matthew Rahming’s “the thing about water is…” that is currently on display at your favourite museum.
This work of art gives us a moment to consider how much this key resource, water, that feels so ubiquitous and abundant to our islands is not as accessible as we like to think. Seeing people filling up bottles at the community water pumps in Nassau, knowing that in our post-Dorian Abaconians still have no running water and that Grand Bahamians still have salty water coming out of their taps – the thing about water is that it isn’t easy to come by even when you’re surrounded by it. We’re the blue planet, we ourselves are 70% water (and I remember reading somewhere that in light of this fact, human beings are essentially cucumbers with sentience and anxiety), and yet access to potable water is a privilege. In this current moment of climate crisis and global pandemic, we are seeing the world reckoning with old systems that haven’t served us and shifting toward acknowledging the things that do: water, healthcare, food, and mental and emotional wellbeing. Rahming’s three ceramic vessels, filled with salt water, highlight the significance of water to our livelihood and wellbeing as well as our history.
