Reflecting Pool, 2020 - Installed at The Fifty Fifty Collective, Victoria, BC
Swimming pools are a space in history that have highlighted racial discrimination and social disadvantage. They have remained a luxury for the white and wealthy and have long been a symbol of the American dream, suburban haven, and a marker of status. In a way, they reflect the entirety of our social systems. Only those who fit a specific social group are able to create lives centred around pleasure and excess.
Today we see how race, class, sexuality, ability, and gender limit people in their access to resources. Systemic racism and discriminatory underfunding have prevented marginalized groups from owning spaces of rest and leisure, such as waterfront land or private pools. Proximity to water reveals privilege. The swimming pool in this body of work represents this notion and how the nuances of identity determine how easily one accesses resources. Through creating this work, I reflect on my own life that has been shaped by a closeness to bodies of water, man-made and natural.
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