Artwork title : Splash

For this piece I began playing with the base, attempting different shapes and centers. The enlarged opening in the middle brought to mind a camera lens. The effect of the shape, the negative space in the center, and the paint reminded me of the ripples formed when a drop of liquid hits a surface. It feels as if the blonde wood is undulating outwards and whitening. The contrast of the white paint against the blonde wood and the lens-like aperture brought to mind the months-long drought we are experiencing in Barcelona. I called her Splash for these reasons.

North of Barcelona lies the Sau reservoir. It was created in 1966 when the Catalonian government dammed the Ter river and submerged the town of Sant Roma de Sau. The village’s Romanic church bell tower peeking above the waters was an indication of the reservoir’s water levels. Today the church is again completely exposed. Thousands of people have been traveling from all over Spain to see the Sau reservoir and to take selfies with the uncovered church. The town council calls this ‘Drought tourism’.

This year people have posted pictures of themselves standing next to the thermometer in Nevada’s Death Valley when the temperatures reached 55 degrees Celsius, something now called ‘Heat Tourism’. I have also seen a video posted on social media where an ‘influencer’ is caught pretending to pick up trash on a beach in Bali, only to leave the trash bag behind. ‘Disaster Tourism’ soon won’t just be a novel tourist sector if we don’t change our minds and our habits. How have we come to a point in our humanity where we’re taking selfies in front of our own disasters? I hope that Splash reminds us of the ripple effects we have on each other and our place in this world.