Project Statement
Most storm water runoff is considered waste; yet more than 700 cities reclaim wastewater and storm water, recycling it for agricultural uses and human consumption. As we mimic nature and separate the impurities like sludge or salt or chemicals, something magical happens. I am interested in bringing attention to the visual and ecological beauty of this transformation by showing the structures and processes that most people do not even think about. I am attracted to the strangeness of these forms and the distorted sense of scale, embracing the abstract and at times surreal landscape of water’s transformation. The State of Water continues my longstanding attention to our relationship with nature—how we appreciate and accommodate it, and how it accommodates us. These pictures celebrate ideas in design, showing the inventiveness in infrastructure and architecture necessary to meet our needs and to accommodate nature. My intent is to show the beauty in all states of water from sludge to pure; and to advocate for our need to conserve and reclaim our most valuable resource.