Thirst

The Thirst collection is comprised of Thirst (Light and Dark), four pieces in the Diviner series, the Gulp trio, and Slurp.  While experimenting visually with the centrifugal forces implied by the use of the plastic drinking straw, I use these pieces to explore actual and implied spiritual thirst.  When one looks down at a straw from the top, its tiny, perfect circular form seems to offer the promise of complete, achievable satiety.  Yet as we gulp and slurp our way through life, the sheer number of straws we go through points to thirst that is never satisfied.  The debate over the environmental impact of straw use has made clear that each sip adds up over time, as we generate mountains of waste testifying both to our ongoing need to drink deeply and the necessity of rethinking how we are going about it, and whether it’s leading to the results we want.

In this way, the straw operates as a modern-day divining rod.  Yes, we have thirst.  But are we finding that which will really quench our thirst?  Or, like so many bubbly but bad-for-you drinks, will it just leave us thirstier?  Divining rods used to be tools for the practice of divination, or folk magic–the practice of wielding the supernatural to obtain practical ends.  Although divining rods later came to be used in various early pseudo-scientific practices, they never actually worked.  Still, people need water to live, and they have to find it somehow.  Is there, perhaps, a better way of invoking the divine in this quest? 

The pieces in this series ask all the above questions, and more.  But they also make an important point:  One way or another, humans suck…and they always will.