Water is the Wayfinder

Listen to an artist statement:

This collaborative artwork by father-daughter duo David and Taryn Walker explores transformation, intergenerational care, and the life-sustaining power of water. Drawing from personal lineage and shared values, the piece brings together Salmon and Dragonfly—two beings symbolically rich in movement, adaptability, and spiritual significance.

Dragonfly begins their life as a nymph in the water. Then one day, they crawl up on a reed or stem and undergo a process of metamorphosis. They shed their exoskeleton in the water and begin a new stage of life in the air. Dragonfly is one of the few beings who travels between worlds, water, and air; an interdimensional traveler. In Theory of Water: Nishnaabeg Maps to the Times Ahead, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson reminds us of water’s ability to connect us to different worlds:

“I think of our ancestors, who spoke to their ancestors through the sound of rushing water. It’s one of the many reasons that hydro dams, interpretive centres, and lift locks are so irritating to us: they close off channels of communication. The sound of rushing water is kind of a portal to another world. Places where waves of energy altered human hearing were often where spiritual beings lived or significant events happened.”

Water reminds us that there is no clear line between the natural world and the supernatural world. We remain in constant and fluid conversation with the past, present, and future. Here, the symbolism of moving between worlds also acts as an analogy of Indigenous culture making a metamorphosis back and forth between old world systems and contemporary systems.

There are three realms of the creatures. Those of the water. Those of the land. And those of the sky. In the animal world, Salmon is Chief of the water people, Bear is Chief of the forest people, and Eagle is Chief of the sky people. In this artwork, we see Salmon and Dragonfly moving in harmony with one another amidst a swirling environment of air, water, and ephemeral pictograph patterns (a representation of ancestors). Robin Wall Kimmerer writes, “Water is life, food is life, soil is life – and they become our lives through the paired miracles of photosynthesis and respiration. All that we need to live flows through the land. It is not an empty metaphor that we call her Mother Earth.” In this artwork, water represents a symbol of life, spirituality, care, and reciprocity. In turn, Salmon representing collective strength, the responsibility of working together to protect water’s life-sustaining force.

When we look at this artwork, we can see ourselves reflected back at us in the mirrored material of the Dragonflies. The artwork calls on us to consider our own role within these living systems—of water, of care, of reciprocity. A reminder that we all have the ability to enact transformations that will affect generations to come.