Deluge

Deluge (2023) is a Meadow Arts commission and featured in Watermark (2023).

Story Island rises out of one of the flood basins incorporated into the landscaping at The Hive to hold flood water from the River Severn. Mimicking the relentless scroll of news found in busy urban landmarks such as Times Square or Piccadilly Circus, Deluge comprises two lines of LED text. One line announces flooding events in Worcester and around the globe in 2022, while the other relays age-old flood narratives and myths from various cultures and distant civilisations.

Once seen as isolated events, news of floods, whether local or global, has now become an almost daily litany. They are always devastating but to some more than to others. We may feel compassion while safe when they are a distant occurrence or terribly exposed when they threaten our own backyard, but their nature and effects don’t vary. The so-called “diluvian” narratives and myths may vary across epochs, peoples or religions, but they exist in almost every culture. It may be no exaggeration to say that we all, as humans, carry some form of ‘deluge’ in our collective consciousness. Another common thread is that some form of human agency always unleashes these events, a ‘sin’ or fault, followed by a form of renewal or cleansing. Floods have always taken place and they have shaped our planet, but today they are a constant, almost certainly aggravated by human action and the unsustainable misuse of resources. It might be that this time, the renewal materialises in increased awareness and better stewardship.

Image: Tegen Kimbley for Meadow Arts