Thirteen Thousand Six Hundred Ninety-nine

Several years ago I read that 5 million people die every year from water-related diseases and wondered why there is no alarm sounding. While the figure haunted me, it felt impossible to imagine. I got my calculator and figured out how many people die every day, every hour, and every minute. Then I realized I had to translate this visually.

The installation, 13,699, is being created to raise awareness of the number of people who die every day from water-related diseases because they do not have access to clean water. To symbolize these deaths, one clear plastic water bottle cap is used to represent each person. The object of this installation is to present the opportunity to experience physically the magnitude of this humanitarian crisis. Being enveloped by 13,699 swaying bottle caps has a visceral effect which will inspire advocacy for those individuals who are unfortunate to live where there is no sanitation and infrastructure, or where aquifers are depleted or polluted beyond use.

The caps have been collected from the Keene, NH recycling center. The 13,699 clear plastic water bottle caps are strung on fishing line and hung from a 12' x 12'metal grid. A 10' x 10' x 10' aluminum frame supports the grid and has one point of access and exit. There is an open five to six foot circle in the middle. The clear plastic circular caps echo the open circular space within the square. The lines, strung with bottle caps, are hung from the metal grid at staggered two inch increments in a circular configuration around and above the open center circle.

The choice of plastic bottle caps calls attention to other related environmental issues surrounding bottled water such as privatization, depletion of aquifers, the impact of plastic waste, the use of fossil fuels in making plastic, the carbon footprint of shipping bottled water, and the leaching of plastic into our water sources. Purchasing bottled water turns a basic human right into a commodity, affecting access for people in developing countries, as well as here in the United States.

Primarily a non-representational print maker and painter, my work has always been informed by the landscape. As my awareness of global water issues grew, I made the decision to make water the theme of all of my work. In 2007 I realized that my serene fine art could not communicate all I wanted to say about these important issues and decided to design an installation which illustrated disturbing statistics with the same meditative qualities as my two-dimensional work. My intention is to engender an appreciation for and stewardship of one of our most precious natural resources – water.

Making it Public
I am scheduled to work with high school students in Keene, NH in the production of 13,699 and have engaged the public at GreenFest, an environmental festival, at Government Center in Boston on September 28, 2008 by setting up a table where bottle caps were strung. Students at the Salem Academy Charter School in Massachusetts are helping by drilling and stringing bottle caps as a senior project. I am currently working on incorporating the production of 13,699 in an environmental educational program with NH Audubon in Concord, NH that ties into the school district’s study of water. 13,699 will be unveiled in front of the NH State House on the Friday before World Water Day in March of 2009. I am developing a publicity plan that includes inviting students from New Hampshire and Massachusetts to the unveiling, as well as sending press releases to the New Hampshire and Massachusetts media.

For more information, please call me at 603.827.3744 or email at cdestrempes@verizon.net.

Christine Destrempes
PO Box 176
Harrisville, NH 03450

Thirteen Thousand Six Hundred Ninety-nine in pdf format.