Water : Mark

Flux Stratas

Water : Mark

Flux Stratas

Tom Pearson, 2026,
In-Development (Venice, Italy & New York, NY)

Subtractive paper manipulation, aqueous physical prompts, organic cotton rag, hemp, seaweed, and raw pulp matrices.

Variable sheet and modular series formats.

A companion series to Ablations and GESTURES for Rising Waters, Water : Mark utilizes wet-pulp erosion, Fluxus-inspired scores, and tidal immersion to mirror Venetian algae watermarks—physically absorbing the mineral, chemical, and organic memory of lagoon sea-level rise. Through subtractive paper manipulation on raw cotton rag and hemp matrices, the work translates environmental degradation into a series of physical strata, framing water as both a responsive force and an active archive recording loss and transformation over time. Along with the Fluxus prompts, it also stratifies “isms’ that are layered onto a foundational disregard of Right Relationship—from Speciesism to Racism and Homophobia, Extractivism to Colonialism, Misogyny, and Oppression.

  • Stratifications

    We inherit a geology of disregard.

    It begins beneath the tide:

    Speciesism and Extractivism harvesting seabed for capital.

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  • II.

    It settles in the clay:

    Colonialism, Imperialism, and Gentrification claiming the shoreline through enclosure, displacement, and exclusion.

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  • III.

    It splits the bedrock:

    The rift between Science and Religion—severing the empirical from the sacred, reducing the living world to a body to dissect or a wilderness to conquer.

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  • IV.

    It hardens in the structure:

    Nationalism, Fascism, Capitalism, and White Supremacy constructing walls, borders, and ledgers to dictate who holds power and who is exiled.

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  • V.

    It circulates in the air:

    Xenophobia, Patriarchy, and Heteronormativity policing desire, belonging, and the body.

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  • VI.

    It floats upon the surface:

    Ableism, Sanism, and Ageism discarding the extraordinary, the quiet, and the experienced.

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  • VII.

    Water marks what we extract; time absorbs what we practice.

    ©2026 Tom Pearson