Interview: Luciana Abait
My name is Luciana Abait. I’m originally from Argentina and I’ve lived in the United States for the last 23 years. My work deals with environmental issues, at the same time, it wants to show people the urgency of climate change. My work aims to reproduce in the public the feeling that they experience when they saw a natural wonder for the very first time, for example, when they saw the ocean for the very first time or when they saw a waterfall for the very first time—that moment of joy, of excitement, of pure amazement. So that’s what I tried to recreate with my work. All my works deal with the themes of nature.
Although I want to show the beauty and the majestic nature of our environment, I also want to talk about the fragility of our environment. I want to remind people that we need to find a solution to what’s going on in our planet, because we don’t have so much time left unless we really do the necessary changes to create change.
I’ve been working with the theme of water for the last 20 years. So water is a very familiar element in my work. I’ve been working with photography. I’ve been compiling photographs of water from all over the world. This video is a culmination of all these documentation of photographs that I’ve taken throughout the years. This is my first immersive piece that I ever create. The idea with it is that people do not just experience it as a two-dimensional piece, but they kind of complete the piece, their whole bodies are part of the piece and they kind of experience the piece.
I created this piece having the public in mind, and I really want the public to be immersed in this installation. This piece wouldn’t be what it is if it wasn’t for all the public that are interacting with the artwork every single minute. I’m really amazed by the emotional connection that people show with the piece. I mean, I know that people would react in a very positive manner with a piece because water is such an essential element.
I’ve been working with the theme of water for the last 20 years. So water is a very familiar element in my work. I’ve been working with photography. I’ve been compiling photographs of water from all over the world. This video is a culmination of all these documentation of photographs that I’ve taken throughout the years. This is my first immersive piece that I ever create. The idea with it is that people do not just experience it as a two-dimensional piece, but they kind of complete the piece, their whole bodies are part of the piece and they kind of experience the piece.
I created this piece having the public in mind, and I really want the public to be immersed in this installation. This piece wouldn’t be what it is if it wasn’t for all the public that are interacting with the artwork every single minute. I’m really amazed by the emotional connection that people show with the piece. I mean, I know that people would react in a very positive manner with a piece because water is such an essential element.
If there was one thing, one action that your work could send a message to people, what would that action be?
If there was one action that people could take after looking at my work, it would be to be appreciative, more appreciative of all our natural resources. That would be it. And also, I think, another action would be to save water. I think, in our daily lives we squander water so much. Water is one of the most precious elements in our world, some people call it blue gold. In some countries, in some regions of the world, water is treated as a commodity, it’s treated as gold. So I want people to realize that water is as precious as gold. At the same time, it’s a natural resource and we have to take care of it, because once it’s gone, it’s gone. So we need to do everything that we have in our power and everything that scientists are telling us to do, because otherwise, our world and our future generations will be left with no water.
This installation is inspired by the flood myth. In many cultures, the flood myth relates to the idea of being reborn and starting again. I think after what we all went through, after the global pandemic, we all have, as a global community, the sense that we all need to start all over again and be reborn and be cleansed. So water is related to cleansing and it deals with feeling reborn again.
