Artist Statement

Who is water? If water could talk, what would they say? What might the West Fork and Clear Fork River bodies remember when meeting the great Arkikosa River (Trinity River) in Dallas? The Grammar of Animacy is the foundation of the work with the New Stories: New Futures project called "Remembering: Water has a memory."

The exhibition's title, The Grammar of Animacy, was derived from Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer, a scientist and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation.

In Braiding Sweetgrass, the author describes how English does not give us many tools for respecting animacy. In English, one is either a person, place, or thing. Our grammar boxes us in by our choice of reducing a non-human being to an "it," or we assign gender inappropriately as he or she. Where are our words for the existence of another living being? This work explores the animacy of the river and their tributaries.

If we viewed water as a living relation, how might that change how we steward our most significant natural asset? This new body of work explores the river's personhood by activating their spirit through illustration and installation. Faz collected water from 7 different locations throughout the DFW Metroplex. A map is available via QR code to reorient and meet the river where they reside and flow.

This exhibition also looks at how we value natural resources by examining The Gold Standard in proximity to water sampled from Ft. Worth and Dallas. Visitors are also cordially invited to The Gold Standard restaurant to view the market price for gold and water via QR code as an immersive art experience.

Meet the river where she flows. Connecting Ft. Worth to Dallas

Meeting the river and inspiration

When water is worth more than gold