Bodies of Water, Human Rights and the Hydrocommons – Astrida Neimanis

MC

About
Artists
Citations
Get In Touch

SAVAC

Suite 450 401 Richmond St. W. Toronto, ON M5V 3A8 Canada 1(416)542-1661

Colophon

Designed by Tetyana Herych
Developed by Mohammad Rezaei

Land Acknowledgement

For over 25 years, SAVAC has operated without a gallery space as an explicit, political choice. SAVAC is anchored on the land that is governed by the Dish with One Spoon Covenant. While meditating on this image, our senses recall- a giant bubbling cauldron of pongal, a thali with a stack of rotis, a plate heaped with mansaf, countless vessels from across the region that are used for collective eating. The gestures of eating together are embedded in our bodies, the breaking of bread for taghmees, or the making of a nawala or burki. The practice of sharing one large dish requires eating only with only one hand so the other is kept clean, the self and collective awareness of eating only what one needs and making sure that this is enough for everyone sitting around the dish. The ethos of eating together embodies the ethos of “from each according to our ability, to each according to our needs.” We support work that (in)directly addresses the ways histories of people of colour are represented alongside the story of ongoing colonialism on Turtle Island and post-colonial histories of the global south. We also think of the ones who lost these practices due to migration, or patriarchal, caste and sectarian divisions. We remember those who were made to forget these practices to colonial concepts of individualism and “cleanliness.” As settlers on this land currently known as Toronto, we aim to integrate our learning from our peoples with the teachings of the sovereign nations of the Huron-Wendat, the Petun, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the New Credit. We aim to share and care for the resources of this territory with the same mindfulness that we approach our dishes heaped with abundance.