Movement of Water @ Kennedy Gallery
MOVEMENT OF WATER
Art, in its most useful manifestation, performs a social function. It educates, inspires, enrages, and in so doing, has the power to create change. Art can be political action. Such is the case with “Movement of Water”, a multimedia exhibit by Kim Kitchen currently showing at the WKP Kennedy Gallery.
The show features pictures of women and children in Tanzania and their relationship to water. There is a short film, which contrasts the Tanzanian experience with water and that of a westerner. The walls are covered with information pertaining to water related issues in the third world, and the artist’s reflections on her experiences in Africa.
Kim Kitchen has built a career working in women’s shelters and dealing with issues of sexual violence. Consequently, she was invited by an NGO in Tanzania to do similar work there. One of the things that struck her, was the daily struggle people endured to attain water. What the average Tanzanian would call “water”, was often highly toxic, and certainly not something that a Canadian would drink. This experience caused her to reflect on her own daily life relationship with water. The result is “Movement of Water”.
This exhibit forces one to contemplate one’s good fortune in having been born in Canada, which has by far the greatest fresh water resources in the world. Acknowledging how lucky one is, while considering the misfortune of the average Tanzanian, and the cruel conditions under which they live, results in a personal reckoning of sorts. Does the way we live, our values, and consumption habits, have anything to do with the plight of the people of Tanzania?
If the issue with water in Tanzania was strictly pertaining to quantity, then we westerners could absolve ourselves and leave Kim Kitchen’s exhibit without so much as a tinge of guilt, as a population needs to conform to the ecosystem’s ability to support it. Unfortunately for us, and our collective social conscience, the issue is also to do with quality. Tanzania, is a resource rich country with diamonds, iron ore, natural gas, tin, and phosphates. The water there is being polluted by heavy industry, and hence, our culture has a share in the blame for what is happening, not only in Tanzania, but everywhere our corporations are committing injustices.
Our consumption comes at the expense of people in the developing world. We all know that western corporations claim the resources in these countries, and in order to keep the people down, manipulate governments and foment wars. Because of this, we bear responsibility for conditions in places like Sub-Saharan Africa. While those countries are powerless to defend themselves from exploitation by transnational corporations, industrialized nations are not.
We, as westerners, have the tools at our disposal to force our governments to modify the conduct of poor corporate citizens, so that people in places like Tanzania are not victimized by them. Kim points out, as an example of people acting to force corporations into line, the recent demand made by Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians, that the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund divest themselves of their holdings in private water companies in Chile. There are a lot of ways to make money in this world, and some of them are shameful. It is up to citizens to make sure companies and investors face their shame.
Politics aside, this exhibit features some remarkable photographs. Kim has not chosen to show the people of Tanzania in conditions of squalor and misery, rather, her photos are optimistic and vibrant. They show the daily struggle of people to acquire water, but the people are shown to be proud, dignified, and happy. One photo is of two women pouring dye – made with water they purchased from a private company – over brightly coloured fabric, against a garbage-strewn sandscape. It is inspiring to see these women create beauty in such a grim context. Kim Kitchen is a joyful person, and this attitude really comes through in “Movement of Water”.
