Valeska Soares: Acqua Alta, Alexander Gray Associates, Germantown, NY,
Presented at Alexander Gray Associates, Acqua Alta (2019) is an iterative installation by Valeska Soares that takes its name from the seasonal flooding of Venice — a phenomenon intensified by climate change. The work comprises hand-blown glass vessels of varying forms, each filled with water sourced from the nearest natural body of water wherever the installation is shown.
Subtle shifts in color, opacity, and density make visible the specific conditions of each site, quietly distilling the pervasive yet uneven effects of pollution. In this way, the piece transforms local water into a universal index of environmental vulnerability.
At once formally restrained and emotionally resonant, Acqua Alta reflects a recurring thread in Soares’s practice: the meditation on loss. By collecting and containing these fragile bodies of water, the artist performs a gesture of poignant preservation — holding, in luminous suspension, what is steadily being altered or lost.
Subtle shifts in color, opacity, and density make visible the specific conditions of each site, quietly distilling the pervasive yet uneven effects of pollution. In this way, the piece transforms local water into a universal index of environmental vulnerability.
At once formally restrained and emotionally resonant, Acqua Alta reflects a recurring thread in Soares’s practice: the meditation on loss. By collecting and containing these fragile bodies of water, the artist performs a gesture of poignant preservation — holding, in luminous suspension, what is steadily being altered or lost.
