i am Naiad : Becoming Benthic
April 28, 2019 | Bilpin International Ground for Creative Initiatives, Bilpin, NSW, Australia
photos by: Graeme Wienand, Alison Ford, Olivia Sprinkel, Abigail Zammit, Wendy Jagger, and Jan Cleveringa
i am Naiad
here of Benthic Spirit
in chimeric human form.
We were once cared for by the Darug by the many inreciprocity
On whose land we stand.
I am naiad
Come to you in a mouth you may hear.
It looks like yours-
maybe you won’t dismiss us.
Like you do our every indication
Story singing for our survival.
Crack open the earth as you do my body.
Canyon colliery leaks one million tons of zinc.
Clarence Dam disaster continues to seep.
Sunny Corner to Daylight Creek, We macroinvertibrates weep.
Decline of abundance
Family richness degraded
Bioaccumulation
Mining effluent
Trace metals
As our drainages seep
Acute lethality is leaking
in place of Sacred Blue
many dried lakes, swamps,
dessicated lives, Our kin the giant dragonflies.
i am Naiad
come in eucalyptus gum
see our price together, Our intwined pearlescent tongues.
You
humans are a beautiful beast.
the change is coming
the now is
you are chimera too
here to sing for survival too
Feel the ache in your flesh and insides.
Squish your fingers in my benthos.
Filter out human domination.
let us Breathe in molecules of watertogether.
Cross human boundaries, allowing life throughout
This body is circulating
waters graze your skin.
the rain laps in rivers, Cup the watershed into your mouth.
Touch it with your skin with care.
i am Naiad
will you be We?