Tim Williams, Dark Water, 2022.Acrylic paint on magnets.

All cultures have enduring myths of deities that inhabit the Dark Water. Naiads and Nymphs; Bunyips, Mermaids and Mélusine – all benign keepers of the water. Benign until their benevolence is betrayed.

We misconstrue the seduction of water. We edge past the needs of survival and sustenance. The beauty that brought us there is forgotten as pride and profit give us the illusion that water is ours to control. We’ve tried to bend it to our will, hold it back, take it to places it shouldn’t be. But floods and droughts prove that the ultimate control of the water does not lie with us.

Comprising of 1024 individually painted magnets, Dark Water is derived from footage shot for a broader project exploring these themes. Using projection and sound design – and decaying water infrastructure as the canvas – we may infer the mood of the Naiads…