Meg Madison

 THIRST   /    thirst comes glistening out of the water

Note 2: Why site specific

It is important that the artwork is made at the site of a natural body of water.

I am always interested in the earth and the connection to the earth. Water is a part of the earth, and water is a part of the composition of the matter of the body, and water is necessary for sustained life. Water is also a material in the making of the artwork. The print once exposed to the sun needs to be developed in water for the image to appear. 

 In my projects of landscape , and water use I always bump into the thorny concept of land ownership. The illogic of owning land rather than maintaining a stewardship of land that one is using seems obvious in the large presence of nature.  The words of Woody Guthrie’s song, “This land is your Land” express my conclusion -   “this lands belongs to you and me” .  So doing the artwork at the physical site allows everyone to connect with the land and the water at THAT place.

. The water is a material of the art work, - it is what will change the iron chemical solution, initially pale yellow, then dark green after exposure to sunlight, into a brilliant blue and white print.  The water becomes a part of the chemical compound on the paper, once dried the residue of the LA River, or salt of the Pacific Ocean remain on the paper. It is part of what makes the chemical change and it is what remains.
Where water comes from can be mysterious, it comes from the tap, it comes from the garden hose; there is no connection between the source of the water and where it is delivered. Going to the site of the water to make the artwork, draws attention to the waters connection to the land and provides evidence of the source of that particular water. 

At the site of the natural body of water, the human subject that will lay their body on the paper is a witness to the body of water, and a witness to me, at times submerging my body in the water as I develop the image on the paper.  The water, the body of the subject that blocks the sunlight from some portions of the paper, the paper, the sunlight, the wind and my body moving the paper through the chemical change are the ingredients, the material, the essence of the artwork.