Bodies of water, streams of water

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Johanna Toumieux

 

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Everyone is familiar with the expression “stream of water” as water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Bodies of water, however, are less commonly known, even in their most scientific and direct meaning as “any significant accumulation of water”, which includes moving water. Streams of water are bodies of water.

At the beginning of this studio, we were reminded that around 70% of our body is made up of water, a piece of data which never fails to surprise unaware people. We are often quite oblivious to our own hybrid, very much liquid constitution, and to the water cycles which take place within us and comprise us in currents and exchanges much more complex than the usual “evaporation, condensation, precipitation, and surface runoff”. 

I chose to work on this theme without being aware of the previous definitions, thinking of “bodies of water” as a punchline describing our own human bodies. I wished to gain a deeper understanding of the multiple aspects of what we call the water cycle on the planet, and in particular what is our part in it as human beings, with all of our human activity. 

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Bibliography

De Marsily, Ghislain, “Allons-nous bientôt manquer d’eau sur Terre?” Emission La Conversation Scientifique, France Culture (09.02.2019)

Chauveau, Loïc, “Les schémas du cycle de l’eau sont faux” Sciences et Avenir (19.09.2019) 

https://www.sciencesetavenir.fr/nature-environnement/les-mauvaises-images-du-cycle-de-l-eau_137381

Neimanis, Astrida, Bodies of Water - Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology, Bloomsbury Academic (2017)