To mark World Water Day in 2024, Illinois State University’s Center for a Sustainable Water Future, in collaboration with Milner Library, is hosting an exhibition of artworks by Ruth Burke and Jin Lee, both faculty in the Wonsook Kim School of Art. Burke and Lee will participate in a panel discussion and artist talk at Milner Library on Tuesday, March 19, from 5-7 p.m.
Water maintains our land and food. It is intrinsic to all animal life. Water’s uses, distribution, and contamination are crucial moral issues. It is also a space for our psyches to swim and contemplate. It marks time and seasons. Water acts as an embodiment of longing outside of the human body, while remaining a necessity for the survival of all species. Water is material and poetry.
Burke’s artwork addresses ethical themes related to agricultural practice, human-animal relationships, and sustainability, broadly defined. Lee’s work deals with the subjective experiences of landscape, often surrounding bodies of water. It plays off of a deep artistic tradition of landscape as spectacle, leisure, and a space for reflection.
The exhibit and programming are hosted by the Center for a Sustainable Water Future in collaboration with Milner Library and with generous support from the Alice and Fannie Fell Trust.
World Water Day is observed annually on March 22 as a United Nations observance day to raise awareness of global water issues and advance global efforts to promote the sustainable management of water resources and realize the human right to water and sanitation.
About the exhibit contributors
Nathania Rubin
Rubin, the exhibit curator, is a visual artist originally from New York City. She has shown hand-drawn animations, drawings, and other works in over 20 countries.
Jin Lee
Lee is a photographer whose projects center on forming a deeper relationship to places through close examination of their landscapes and built environments. She has received the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship and the Illinois Arts Council grant, and has had solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago Cultural Center, and Sioux City Art Center. Her works are included in the permanent collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Madison Art Center, and Museum of Contemporary Photography. Lee received an M.F.A. in photography from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is represented by Devening Projects in Chicago.
Ruth Burke
Burke is an interdisciplinary artist, who collaborates with animals in her creative practice. Straddling the practice of contemporary art and the field of human-animal studies, Burke has exclusively focused on human-animal relationships in her practice since 2015. Burke’s earthworks have been included in the 4GROUND Land Art Biennial (2022) and Terrain Biennial (2021). Her solo exhibitions include Polyrhythms (2020) at HSpace Gallery/The Muted Horn in Cleveland, Susurrus (2019) at Mantle Artspace in San Antonio, and Mapping Empathy (2016) at halka art project in Istanbul. Burke has received grant funding for projects from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts, the Greater Columbus Arts Council, and multiple educational institutions. Burke was a resident artist at ACRE (2019), a Michele Schara AIR at Detroit Community School (2017), and was a fellow in the inaugural cohort at the Animals & Society Institute (2017), at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Burke has co-authored articles in the peer-reviewed journals Society & Animals and Zoophilogia. Burke is currently an assistant professor of video art in the Wonsook Kim College of Fine Arts, School of Art at Illinois State University.
About the Center for a Sustainable Water Future
The Center for a Sustainable Water Future is an interdisciplinary initiative that brings together academically diverse faculty from across campus to advance research, creative expression, teaching, and outreach activities promoting and enhancing effective and viable water solutions and stewardship within Illinois and with regional, national, and global partners. Through action research, the interdependence and relationship with water will be explored, investigated, and shared promoting a broader sustainable water ethic for the future. For more information, visit WaterCenter.IllinoisState.edu.
Event Information
What: What Water Feeds exhibit
Where: Milner Library, Floor 2, Benway Student Art Exhibition Area
When: February 19-March 24
About Milner Library Exhibits Program
Milner Library’s Exhibits Program provides a platform for campus and community partners to host and present diverse works of art, science, and culture. Milner Library pursues informative, interactive, and educational programs that support the University’s educational mission and reflect our vibrant community. Library exhibits and related events are open to Illinois State students, faculty, staff, and the greater community at no cost. For more information, visit Library.IllinoisState.edu/Exhibits.
