Heat Waves / Water Falls

2023

36” x variable (70”-80”)

Created in 2023 during the hottest months of the hottest year on record, Heat Waves/Water Falls connects these extreme temperatures to their impact on the human body.. This sculpture comprises annual average temperature data for each of the 18 major river basins in the continental US, materialized as plant and insect dyed cotton. The datasets are coiled along bundles of plastic medical tubing, twisting through each other and bound at points where the temperature data for multiple places align. All of the watersheds eventually flow together at the top of the sculpture, sharing the consequences of our present-day heated planet.

As the pollution from human life on land runs downstream, watersheds become one window into the interdependence of ecological and human health. While the plastic medical tubing is an expression of the buildup of toxic plastics in our bodies and waterways, wrapping and bundling these tubes by hand becomes an expression of care for our interconnected lives.