Words for water explores a diversity of languages, including Indigenous Australian languages as a starting point to evoke a connection to water as the sustaining element of all life. Indigenous cultures have an acute understanding and connection to the relationship between body, environment (site) and identity and this project seeks to awaken this connection more broadly across cultures and practices. Original post is located on the Geokult Blog. 
Words for water is an exploration into the many aspects of the chemical of H2O. Water makes up over 70 per cent of the human body, it is essential for sustaining life and has massive social and cultural significance. Water may seem ubiquitous, but it has some rather uncommon properties. At the atomic level, water can influence how life and landscapes are formed, such as how water moves through a plant and how rivers meander around bends. It is also the only chemical that be formed in three states – vapour, liquid and solid. This project uses a range of mixed reality media approaches – the use of augmented media to ‘trigger’ sound and video, the development of a smart phone/tablet app, gallery and installation based exhibitions and a projection work that bring together this project in a filmic, linear narrative.
Background
On 2 June 2013 a call was made to my networks on Facebook to share with me what their word for water was: these are the responses so far.
Words for Water
Gapu: Yolgnu, Kapi: Pitjanjatjara, Gugu: Wubuy, Air: Bahasa Indonesian, Wair: Bahasa Sikka, Wada: Myla, Voda: Russian, Sui: Cantonese, Water: English, Aqua: Latin, Eau: French, Ma: Arabic, Agua: Spanish/Portuguese, Wasser: German, Wai: Māori, Galin: Wiradjuri, Wala: Yorta Yorta, Su: Turkish, Tubig: Filipino, Vann: Norwegian, Uisce: Irish Gaelic, Ilma: Maltese, Vand: Danish, Vatten: Swedish, Banyu: Javanese, Vesi: Estonian, Auga: Galician, Ouse: Old English, Av: Kurdish, Neró: Greek, Dŵr: Welsh, Shuǐ: Chinese Traditional, Pānī: Hindi, Ujë: Albanian, Jur: Armenian, Ur: Basque, Jala: Bengali, Vode: Bosnian, Aigua: Catalan, Akvo: Esperanto, Tsqlis: Georgian, Víz: Hungarian, Vatn; Icelandic, Mmiri: Igbo, Nīrina: Kannada, Tuk: Kymer, Mul: Korean, Noa: Lao, ūdens: Latvian, Vandens: Lithuanian, Yc: Mongolian, Woda: Polish, Apă: Romanian, Biyo: Somali, Maji – Swahili, Taṇṇīr: Tamil, Nīṭi: Tegulu, N̂ả: Thai, Nước: Vietnamese, Omi: Yoruba, Amanzi: Zulu Thank you so much to everyone who contributed!!
Project progress
Words for water is seen as an ever expanding project, allowing for infinite expansion of words, thoughts and stories related to water.
- Words for Water, Mary – Stage 5, Shown at Gympie Regional Gallery as part of “Six Degrees of Separation”, June 2015
- Stage 4.2 “From the mountain to the sea” Huatoki Plaza and WITT January 2015
- Stage 4.1 Aotearoa Wai, Video on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/121078013 2015, Screened at Balance Unbalance: Water, Climate, Place, Phoenix, Arizona, OUT WITH DROUGHT: Matters of Water, curated by Molly Hankwitz, Artist’s Television Access Gallery, San Francisco
- Stage 4.0 River Cinema SCANZ2015 – New Plymouth, New Zealand January 2015
- Stage 3 Postcard for The Satellites: Art spinning around Kochi, December 2014
- Stage 2.1 PhotoAccess, October 2014
- Stage 2 Video on Vimeo https://vimeo.com/108540341 October 2014
- Stage 1.2 3WDS14 – Waterwheel World Water Day Symposium 2014, March 2014
- Stage 1.1 Video on YouTube http://youtu.be/Dd0SqODdIOU September 2013
- Stage 1 of Words for Water was presented as part of the Transreal Topologies exhibition at the Royal Institute of Science in Adelaide, October 2013. Transreal Topologies was held in conjunction with the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) Symposium in Adelaide.
Tracey M Benson || Bytetime 
Hi Tracey, I have read more of your writing and of your work with indigenous people’s of Australia. I also am Aboriginal. I am an Artist, I love to paint, however I am only reasonable. I have found that water can change by putting lables on the bottles. Such as Love, then when the water is frozen a crystal is studied under a microscope and every word, music etc.. has a different shape. Plus water can Sing. So this is what I have found. Regards Lyn-Marie Hayman-Rubach
Thanks Lyn-Marie for sharing your insights – have you seen this ? http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2149253/ I think you would find it very interesting!!