Recipe for Potable Water — Allie E.S. Wist

Recipe for Potable Water
Glass bowls, asphalt, and concrete from areas affected by Hurricane Sandy; salt water; saran wrap
2019-2029, Being Human, Wellcome Collection, London, EN.
2017, Eat/ing Your Heart Out, Amagansett, NY

This piece represents a DIY method for desalinating water for cooking and drinking, as is postured in the event that increased natural disasters and climate change could impact our access to potable water. Sea level rise and increased flooding will affect access to potable drinking water; salt water floods and contaminates fresh drinking water sources, and extreme weather events may damage the infrastructure to transport and deliver fresh water. We may need a DIY method for turning salty ocean water into something we can drink and cook with. This work utilizes depression glass and found materials from the Rockaways in New York City, which were badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. The use of familiar and familial material objects speaks to the necessity of addressing climate change in our daily lives, as well as the limitations of technologic solutions to unforeseen eco-disasters.