Rivers used to define and inform every human’s life.

They determined where we settled and built cities, where we nourished and sustained ourselves, how we defined ourselves as both communities and individuals. But in our displaced commercial world, we don’t know our rivers. At best, we treat them as a nice place for an occasional hike; at worst, we allow them to be decimated and destroyed. Here in Hamilton, we literally dump our waste in them.

If we train our eyes to see, we may notice what our ancestors and those who came before us saw: that rivers are valuable, significant, even sacred.

Each of the three pieces in this series traces the cartography of local Hamilton watersheds (Chedoke, Spencer, Red Hill), featuring wildlife that share our rivers with us. The cartography is traced in gold to remind the viewer of each river’s ancient and ever-true sacredness.