Drawing the Drought (project)

This summer is being the hottest one ever since we have temperature records. Scientific evidence is showing that this is just the beginning of a dramatic increase that is directly related to the usage of fossil fuels and the overexploitation of natural resources around the planet.

One of the consequences of global warming is drought, which is devastating the world and is manifesting itself in the form of a food crisis, fires, floods, and severe illnesses such as allergies, breathing disorders and deaths due to high temperatures.

Although our civilized society does not question the universal right to water, scarcity is not affecting all the citizens equally, thus provoking a true ‘water gap’ since the city elites are spoiling water for their own leisure while the most vulnerable groups are the ones suffering the real effects of such scarcity.

Appalled by the images of dry reservoirs, barren fields and vast terrains cracked by the lack of water, we have decided to rescue our piece Drawing the Drought which we carried out back in 2019 in La Jarosa, a reservoir near Madrid. We want to make it bigger in order to add more dramatism to it.

As always in our work, the idea is simple and accessible to everyone. Our intention is to evince the loss of water in natural environments. For this reason, we need a large extension of cracked deserted land, preferably a dry reservoir or riverbed. We will draw large circles with light following the pattern of the cracks on the ground.

The material will evidently be quite basic: just LED strip lights that we will place inside the cracks, a grid connection, and patience for the drawing…

The images were created by Burna Visual Art.

Hopefully, we will have no need to carry this one out…