Naples artist Lisette Morales was one of ten photographers to have work chosen to be part of a public art exhibition called I AM WATER.The installation serves to highlight water’s importance to the health of people as well as the planet, and to show how we have lost our connection to water.
Morales’s photo is of Miccosukee grandmother Betty Osceola in traditional dress, scooping water with her hands (image above). Morales describes the day in the Everglades when she took the shot.
“She went in the water to pray. And it was powerful for me to see her praying for the water. The Everglades is a unique ecosystem. It’s the largest wetlands in the world.”
Tanja Andrejasic Wechsler is the producer of the exhibition. She describes what she loved in Morales’s work:
“It is exactly what has been lost in today’s modern Western society, and why we have pollution of water. Because we have lost what indigenous people knew. That they were part of a great cycle. That they were part of the elements. That the elements give them life and not only give them life, they were life.”
Morales hopes that people who see the photo will go to the Everglades themselves.
“I really would like to inspire and encourage people to create a personal connection to the Everglades. Just go visit, hike the Everglades, and get to know it,” she said.
Morales’s photo will be displayed in Brooklyn at the corner of Flushing Ave. and Evergreen Ave., beginning June 21 and for at least a month.
Morales is on Instagram at @lisette_morales.
