Something that is polymorphous has different forms at different stages of its development. Water is Polymorphous because through each stage of its development it morphs and changes into something exhilarating and new. Water exists in three states: solid, liquid, and gas, but where does water actually come from, where is it going, and how does it connect to us in its choreographed cycle of life? Therein lies uncertainty, water is something that we don’t understand and something, no matter how hard we try, we cannot control. Water is more than this hydrological cycle, it comprises a large percentage of our physical bodies and allows us to live our lives. Water has a Fourth Phase because the three known phases aren’t enough of an explanation for why we are so inherently and deeply connected to this life force. Water is within us at every stage of life and as we go through our own polymorphous changes, so does water. It doesn’t leave us until our life’s energy escapes us.
The transient (or polymorphous) nature of water must be experienced through all the senses and felt on an effective level. Water is ephemeral by nature because we cannot contain it no matter how hard we try. Water passes through everything in our world and it transfers a part of itself into everything. Though it stretches its energy in a multitude of directions it never loses its true spirit. Water expels so much of its energy because it is constantly moving and changing into new states. When we shift into a new area of our lives we do the same thing, as new experiences often force us to adapt in new ways which are unforeseen.
The sticks in this installation have all been shaped and molded by water. They have been brushed, beaten, and beloved by this life force that chose to bestow its energy into each branch. These sticks are not a lifeless forest but are the energy of a tributary, a stream, a river, a lake, or an ocean and although they lack the physical element of water within them, they do not lack its spirit. The sticks in this installation are at many stages of their lives, they go through a Polymorphous change just as water does. As a body of water moves it rises, falls, and shifts in the same way as the branches in this installation do. The hanging sticks also recreate a feeling of change because when sticks are exposed to light they absorb it, which is similar to the absorption of light by different states of water. Through the materiality of branches this installation will create a unique experience of water that connects to The Fourth Phase.
Water is the path I follow and the cycle I ride.
