From
the Same Water ©2009
Running time: 03:00 minutes
In From the Same Water, a miniature pool stands in the center of the darkened room; rear-projected inside the miniature pool a male figure, floating face up, slowly sinks underwater and is obscured. When the figure reappears, it is a female who floats to the surface. The floating and sinking repeats in slow, meditative motion, accompanied by the sound of water, exhaling breath, and cicadas. The alternating figure brings to mind the relationship between male and female, brother and sister, as well as the intimation of both genders being contained within one body.
The title From the Same Water refers to amniotic fluid as well as to the passages of birth and death. The tie of male and female is broken when the male figure submerges and does not reappear. Flesh becomes water, akin to spirit.
The artist and her brother, Craig Jenkins, enacted the floating and sinking. From the Same Water is dedicated to Craig Jenkins, who recently died of cancer.
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