Nidhi Khurana

 When it springs forth from its source in Baden/How does the river know to flow./It follows the gradient, carries the debris along./The river meanders, taking its time, making a way/Singing a song, branching along/A blueprint of another time.

 I am a visual artist based in Delhi, India. I explore through my work the experience of a place; the layers of history, memory and association that places create in each of us. During my fellowship in Budapest between October 2023 and February 2024 I began my research around water. The daily journeys that I took across the Danube compelled me to document and think about water in its various forms leading me to question the origin of water on the planet. Water is a magic liquid, an essential component for life to grow and flourish on the planet. Water makes up more than half the human body (by weight), making us a part of the wider flow while connecting us viscerally to it - a substance with the most unique properties which we often take for granted. We know a lot about water except its origin. Over millennia, earth has had more than one source of water but it is not possible to ascertain the different sources. How can a liquid essential to life on this planet be mapped? How can we map water? Rather how can we map the origin of water and what is the signature of water?

Website address: nidhikhurana217.blogspot.com