Floods Arrive
Then, that afternoon the floods arrive, and it happens in a Flash! Just as I was warned, but I suppose I didn’t/couldn’t have imagined the intensity until now. So fast, ferocious and violent. The sounds roar. The White river rose by around 3 metres shooting backwards up the red river before that came crashing down from the mountains to join in. My work is swept away along with the tarpauline covering it and my tripod which I left down on the riverbed. (for which I am very upset).
I remind myself this is simply a lesson in impermanence.
It’s strangely humbling, there is nothing I can do about this now. The landscape I have spent the last two weeks surrounded by suddenly feels so alien, so full of new intensity and drama. This new reality, feelings of control come and go. Just when I start to feel on track, anything can happen and the only choice is to submit.
I can’t help but feel deflated, slightly depressed and exhausted by these relentless rains and how I perhaps could have done more to document this piece properly now that it has gone though.
The river has no mercy, no warning and no memory, it simply changes and flows forward.
Nothing in nature is permanent.
I am reminded this work is simply a meditation.
A New Place On The Riverbed
Today I have begun working in a new area on the Red river. This small island in the rock bed is likely to flood as the water levels rise in the coming days, so this work will be more of an immediate study focusing towards impermanence. Hopefully I will have enough time in the coming days to continue building and developing a form.