
In Conditions of Fresh Water: An Artistic Exploration of Environmental Racism
About
The story of water is a story of place, race, and power. Water shapes the conditions of places where we live, grow, and change. Power shapes the contours of place. Race is a metaphor for power.
In Conditions of Fresh Water tells the story of water up close, through the lived experiences of black folks from post-Bellum communities in Alamance County, NC and Lowndes County, AL, and at a distance, through the abstract representations of the infrastructure and architecture that they navigate, negotiate, and transform.
In the summer of 2016, I traveled with visual artist Torkwase Dyson to Alamance and Lowndes Counties with Studio South Zero (SSZ), a 6’x8’x12' mobile solar-powered artist workspace built by Dyson with recycled materials. We partnered with community development organizations at both sites—the West End Revitalization Association (Alamance County) and the Alabama Center for Rural Enterprise (Lowndes County).
SSZ served as a black-within-black place, a living room where people gathered, lent a hand, asked questions and offered their memories of everyday life and change in these communities, covering at least seven decades.
This multimedia project reflects our responses to their encounters with these places and the power—black and white—that continues to shape them.
Participants
Alamance County (NC)
Evon Connally, White Level
Sylvia Daye, East End
Virginia Douglas, Hawfields
Rylanda Ellerbe, West End
Vanessa D. Foust, West End
Eleanor Graves, West End
Harlece Graves Jeffries, West End
Rémi Graves, West End
Mary F. McClennis, West End
Carolyn Poteat, Cheeks’ Cross
Leslie Williamson, West End
Ayo Wilson, West End
Brenda Wilson, West End
George Wilson, Hawfields
Omari Wilson, West End
Omega Wilson, West End
Lowndes County (AL)
Beatrice Anderson, White Hall
Tamalyn Berry, White Hall
Catherine Coleman Flowers, Black Belt
Keon Dudley, White Hall
John Mays, White Hall
Mary L. McReynolds, White Hall
William M. Patterson, White Hall
Neamon Rudolph, White Hall
Ruby Rudolph, White Hall
Aaron Jay Thigpen, Fort Deposit
Ben White, White Hall
Lyndon F. White, White Hall
William T. White, White Hall
Dyson's Studio South Zero in Alamance County. Photo by Danielle Purifoy