A contemplative journey that shared water as carrier of memory, story, and community resilience. Beginning at ACCA with collected rainwater and found vessels, participants were invited to embody liquid thinking. With Lleah Smith.

Moving as "a body of water" through Melbourne's hydrosphere to Grant Street Reserve, we walked alongside the historic Birrarung River whilst carrying water in precarious vessels—shells, cups, umbrellas—where leaks and spills became part of the practice.

Through collective water-sharing, storytelling with colonial flood paintings, and collaborative mapping exercises, we explored the question: What do we carry together, and which vessels are needed now? Drawing inspiration from Ursula K. Le Guin's receptacles and Ellen van Neerven's climate justice writing, this workshop wove together watery thinking, environmental awareness, and community care as tools for navigating uncertain times.

Part meditation, part walking tour, part collaborative art-making, this workshop invited participants to consider how we might build "flotation devices" for each other in times of flood, both literal and metaphorical.

ACCA, Melbourne, held in 2025

Photos by Lucy Foster