Bodies of Water
an artists collective
Bodies of Water is a STEM-based, women-identified, artists collective established in Canada in 2024.We make 'little-a' art that we can touch and see, rather than abstract concepts. We make art based on our lived experiences, celebrating and dignifying the everyday and mundane, including craft, care, labour, and bodies. We bring a science lens and a playful outlook to our projects. We straddle the line between analog and digital.We make art to process our lived experiences, to embrace our whole messy selves, to let go of perfectionism, to connect with our bodies, to show care for one other, and to simply experience the joy of making something with our hands. We make art to have fun, express emotions, and reclaim our creative identities from our STEM-training and careers.For us, the rally is the point - we make art together that we couldn’t make solo. As we make art, we focus on abundance over scarcity, and process over product. We follow the energy. We make Small Achievable Goals. We make art with courage (expressing what we really mean), with integrity (not pandering to external forces), and sustainability (mindful of our materials and our energy levels.) We’re in it for the long haul, recognizing that a creative life ebbs and flows, but it’s easier if we do it together.
This baby 'scream sweater' lights up whenever it's wearer makes noise! Powered by an Adafruit Bluefruit microcontroller, the strips of LED neopixels are inserted into a mesh fabric tube. The microcontroller and battery pack sit behind the hood, safely out of reach, so the electronics can be removed for washing.This project points out "invisible" hazards faced by mothers. Apple Watch warns the wearer when high decibel levels are perceived, but this 'working hazard' is minimal compared to the isolation, sleep deprivation, and constant social messaging that caregiving is less valued than paid work. We hope this project can highlight the issue in a playful, humorous way.
This data visualization calendar documented the unpaid labor undertaken when a maternity leave was illegally terminated by the employer. This project was conceived of as supportive craftivism, which uses 'soft' mediums - rooted in the feminine and the domestic - to challenge narratives of power and agency. We developed software code to transcribe a year’s worth of calendar data into a crochet pattern, which was communally crafted, assembled, and embellished. The finished calendar makes visible the hundreds of hours of invisibilized and uncompensated advocacy work demanded by discrimination and incompetence.