Performance Action with Body Board, East Potomac Park, Washington, DC

On Monday, July 31, I walked around East Potomac Park in Washington, DC carrying a body board I made out of salvaged materials.

There had been heavy rains in the region on Friday and Saturday accompanied by flash flood warnings. Though I'm not sure there had been any incidents of flash flooding over the weekend.

Nonetheless, I was surprised to encounter this degree of flooding while walking along the paved footpath extending around the perimeter of East Potomac Park.

At this location, the water was over my knees, midway up my thighs and was definitely going to get deeper.

If the water was cleaner I would have swam along the footpath...

Performance Documentation by Susanna Lee @soozlee

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Performance Action with Life Ring at Jefferson Memorial, Washington, D.C.

On Friday, July 14, I walked around Jefferson Memorial for three hours carrying a life ring. My original intention for the performance actions in my Provisions for Buoyancy series, is to walk in parts of Washington, D.C. that would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by 5-6 feet, while carrying a provision for buoyancy that I made out of refuse materials . Unfortunately, if the sea level were to rise by that amount, this historic site would be flooded. You can see, as I did, by consulting the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) online Sea Level Rise Viewer. Carrying a life ring around Jefferson Memorial signified more than that alone for me however. Given Jefferson was the primary author of The Declaration of Independence , and given, even today, our freedom is at risk... With this in mind, it felt all the more meaningful to be walking around this historic site carrying a life ring. Much thanks to Susanna Lee from VisArts for accom...

The Shack Raft is Underway

5 platforms 3' x 4.5' - built this size to fit in my car. All from salvaged wood, cut, sanded with one coat of finishing wax (may add another). It's wonderful what a little TLC can do. Laid out together before additional sanding with finer grain sandpaper: 9' x 9' - this will be the base of the shack raft I'm constructing. I now need to create pontoons for the base, an under structure to secure them in place as well contribute to holding the platform sections together, and build a shelter onto the base platform. I had already salvaged a bunch of boards - as posted earlier on the blog - but didn't have enough to complete five sections, so returned to the dumpsters.

provisions for buoyancy

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