Water,
Is Taught By Thirst
W
riter, conservationist, and icon Joan Didion’s relationship with water is well documented, and few contemporary artists can lay claim to such a lifelong relationship with our most vital element. In her seminal environmentalist essay “Holy Water” Didion opines, “My own reverence for water has always taken the form of this constant meditation upon where the water is, of an obsessive interest not in the politics of water but in the waterworks themselves, in the movement of water through aqueducts and siphons and pumps and forebays and afterbays and weirs and drains, in plumbing on the grand scale.” The author’s adoration is unmistakable in her prose, it’s poetry mirroring water’s ebb and flow, grace and transparency. One can’t help but be reminded of Didion’s relationship with water when confronted by the works of GTA artist Meaghan Ogilvie, whose own relationship with nature has led to the creation of works that engage with water visually the way Didion’s do textually; with unfettered affection, grace, and the utmost respect. As Ogilive herself writes, “The images I create are intimate interactions between people and nature. Nature is the inspiration behind my work and over the past ten years my focus has been on water—understanding both the beauty and plight of our relationship to it.”
Visual Artist Meaghan Ogilvie & Her Muse By Mike Spry
60 | SUMMER 2019
THEINVIDIATACOLLECTION.COM
