Thirst

Year: 2022
Medium: Sculpture ; Ceramic
(Calypso Coral Select White Stone with Porcelain Inlay)
Dimensions: 8” x 8” x 1 ¾”
Edition: A/P 1/3, Edition of 50

‍Commission by: Commissioner
Fabrication Sites: Bakehouse Art Complex & KV Engineering
Source Materials: Marmotech Quarry, Santo Domingo Este, DR

‍Thirst is a sculptural series that embeds porcelain casts of SEI water bottles—originally praised for their sustainable design—into fossilized coral stone. Through this formal intervention, the work critiques the commodification of water, the ecological costs of plastic, and the extractive histories embedded in both materials and global trade. Each work is inscribed with the word “thirst”, evoking both physical need and symbolic longing.

Sourced from coral stone quarried in the Dominican Republic and fabricated in Miami, the sculptures link geologic and cultural memory, situating water not only as a vital resource but as a contested site of historical and environmental trauma. Installed at the shoreline, the works interact directly with the tides, staging an erosion of form that parallels the global erosion of access to clean water.

‍Thirst extends my broader practice exploring water as archive and agent of memory, particularly within Afro-Caribbean diasporic contexts. Like my larger installations—such as The Deepest Blue, which re-maps the Atlantic seabed as a site of memorial—this series transforms infrastructure and material into tools for decolonial storytelling and ecological reflection.