Keepers of the Water

Piece Description:

Text: Sophia Kidd

Betsy Damon is a feminist, performance artist, and environmental activist. ‘Keepers of the Waters’ is a community-based water activism initiative, which was founded and directed by Damon in 1991, who traveled to China in 1995 to 1996. The artist invited local and international artists to create public performances and installation art to raise awareness of source water protection, particularly the Funan (today known as the Jinjiang) and Lhasa rivers. Footage here is archived at aaa.org.hk, where one can find hundreds of images, newspaper clippings, artist proposals and mock-ups, along other ephemera and archival information. This project is widely researched outside of China, and we are happy to be bringing this information to our Riverside Art Center audiences, so that memory of such an important project in this region of the world will take its rightful place in the canon and history of Southwest China Contemporary Art.