shashasha

Working together with scientists from University of Konstanz’s Zukunftskolleg, Austrian artist Sarah Bildstein created chromatographic images of 100 different water samples from all over the world. These colorful, abstract paintings—reminiscent of island maps or bacteria seen under the microscope—constitute visual portraits of the individual waters of their origin, from the Nile river in Egypt or the Te Namo Lagoon in Tuvalu to Vajunen in Finland, the Ganges in India and the Sucio River in Costa Rica. Through their colors, shapes and gradations, each single image reveals the water’s PH level, its hardness, its nitrate levels, its salinity. Made visible in this way, what are the differences and affinities between these waters from different yet interconnected places?

The book concludes with essays by Tanja Klemm, Katrin Bucher Trantow and Karin Leonhard and includes detailed information on each water sample used in the creation of the images. All texts included in English and German.