ripple effect

by Sarah Nassif

Collection of Great River Coalition

At the 2019 Great River Coalition Earth Day River Cleanup event, participants of all ages made a collective wish for water and the life it sustains. They wrote their thoughts on recycled cloth strips, folded, and dyed the strips using organic indigo and water from the Mississippi River, and wove these strings on a loom to create a collaborative fiber portrait of the river.

With a degree in botany, Sarah Nassif comes to art as an environmental educator and public artist, creating guided opportunities for people to engage the natural world and each other. In 2018, she began focusing on bodies of water and bringing people to their banks to create tactile objects using their hands and water in the process. She finds, and research supports, that the experience not only facilitates a greater sense of investment in the natural world but that it also supports mental health, facilitating calm and even joy.

This piece was commissioned by Great River Coalition and supported by a grant from Mississippi Watershed Management Organization. Learn more at greatrivercoalition.com and mwmo.org.