Water for the Dammed

Human civilization was built upon the control of the Earth’s river systems. There are no major natural waterways that have escaped massive human engineering in the service of narrow visions of progress and necessity. In the process, millions of peoples and cultures have been displaced, submerged, and erased while mighty empires have risen and fallen again. From Aswan in Egypt, to the tribal warriors who are at this very moment (2011), resisting the Belo Monte dam and subsequent drowning of their Amazonian homelands, the march of civilization has come at incalculable cost. Living, as I do, in the shadow of the Hoover dam on the great Colorado, I hear the echo of the people and spirits of the dammed, and the sound of water that does not quench an endless thirst.

I'm always astonished at how this S. Asian myth resonates in Las Vegas: Having lost a debt gambling, his mother was held captive by her sister, the queen of snakes. Garuda, embodiment of nature’s power, must steal the elixir of life from the very gods of samsara in order to free his mother from the coils of bad gambling karma. Overcoming diabolical obstacles including the whirling blades of a wicked sky machine and great hoops of undying flame, Garuda is at last victorious and balance is restored.

18x25 acrylic on Masonite