Alderville First Nation

Listening to air, water

Listening to air, water

“Theory of Water” takes its inspiration from the works of interdisciplinary Anishinaabekwe artist Rebecca Belmore and Canadian poet Dionne Brand. Belmore famously created a giant wooden megaphone (more than 6 feet across at the bell) as an art installation that was displayed in various locations in Canada and the U.S. That work, called “Ayum-ee-aawach Oomama-mowan: Speaking To Their Mother,” allowed speakers’ voices to echo up to nine times as they addressed their native land. A second project called “Wave Sound” flipped the concept, turning a megaphone into a kind of listening horn to amplify the sound of water and shoreline.