Beauty Shot Fridays: What Does Water Mean to You?
Last week, Beauty Shot Fridays partnered with MiiR, a Seattle-based water bottle design company, to form a competition. We asked people “what does water mean to you,” and we selected three winning photos. Winners received a self-designed MiiR water bottle. Here are the winning photos.
I really loved Anita’s photograph because it was one of a few that our reliance upon and use of water. Her photo depicts a person in North Sudan making tea. This moment reminded me of the universality of basic necessities and rituals such as water and tea-making. Currently, there’s a scarcity of accessible, clean water in Sudan. Yet life goes on. People need and use water, even to make tea. I love Anita’s photo for its focus on water’s functional meanings in our daily lives but also to its allusion of universality and politicking of resources.
Anita Verna Crofts: Water means a hot cup of coffee or tea--in this case in North Sudan!
Another winner, Audra Mulkern, sent us a photo of a water slide in crystalline, sunlit water. She mentioned that, for her, water meant recreation. I think Audra’s photograph illustrated the suspended moment before someone goes down the waterslide or takes a big dive (or cannonball) into the water. And if anyone has ever taken a recreational plunge into outdoor water, they know what it’s like to break that stillness and begin a water-fight, a long swim, or just a great time. Audra’s photo invites the viewer to either imagine preserving and/or disrupting the serenity of the water in the sun.
Audra Mulkern: To me, water means recreation.
Ryan Pritchett, our other winner, submitted a photo of a child playing with hose, smiling with glee and intrigue in the summer heat. I like this photo because of its narrative and because of how it reminds me of those first moments of interacting with water outside of a natural environment and functional use. The kid looks enthusiastic at the amoeba-esque formation of water about to collapse on to his tiny frame. I thought Ryan’s photo effectively captured childhood curiosity and wonder as well as water as a method of imagination and play.
Taken by Ryan Pritchett
Congratulations to our competition winners! New Beauty Shot Friday questions will be posted on SAM’s Facebook Page every Monday by 3pm and submissions will be uploaded every Friday by 4pm. Send your photos (and captions) to beautyshots@seattleartmuseum.org. Once uploaded, please tag yourself in your photo.
-Madeleine Dahl, Public Relations Intern