Nước Là Sự Sống - Water is Life

December 2017 - January 2018

Vin Gallery, HCMC, Vietnam

Why do we continue to endanger our future by polluting water?
How can our attitude towards water change our lives?

In “Nước Là Sự Sống,” artist Sto Len asks these questions as he explores water as medium, metaphor and muse.

Water is life. Our bodies consist of nearly 70% water and this water is our life force. When we are healthy, our blood and bodily fluids help circulate water throughout the body providing us with nourishment and energy. When it becomes stagnant and dirty, we get sick. If we think of Earth as a being, the importance of water is just as great as it is for our bodies. When the Earth’s water becomes poisoned, it damages the entire ecosystem around it.

The title “ Water is Life” references the slogan from the Dakota Access Pipeline protests in the U.S. and plays on the Vietnamese word Nước, which has a double meaning of water and country. This exhibition gives voice to a global struggle to maintain clean water by focusing on local waterways and their communities.

Using unconventional printmaking techniques, Sto creates marbled mono prints using pollution found floating in rivers, canals, lakes and streams around the world. Sto believes these bodies of water contain valuable information that we need to document. His prints capture the water’s memories of what has happened there. In the lead up to this exhibition, Sto will travel the local waterways of Ho Chi Minh City to capture the water’s stories with prints, video and sound.