Ode to Rain

Living in Kisii, you have to come to terms with the sheer amount of rain that they experience around here. You can't go more than 4 days without having a serious downpour, and lately it rains everyday: intense rain, the kind that keeps you locked indoors, usually lasting more that an hour; oh, and it rains twice!

 I was simply astounded how we never ended up with any floods around here. Sometimes the place is practically bone-dry in the morning; and worst of all, at my old place we always had water shortages (mind-boggling)!

Rain is a Catch-22 kind of thing: you really suffer if it doesn't rain enough, but, then when your prayers are answered and it finally rains, then you have to scamper away and keep from getting drenched; in addition, if your paths are poorly paved, then you have to deal with lots of mud everywhere; and, if drainage in your area is poor, then you have flooding and stagnating pools of water all around. It's the kind of thing to keep people cursing both in-season and out-of-season.

 There's no getting away from the fact that rain is life; and it's not like human comfort is the gold standard for all things beneficial, but I would love for these two seemingly disparate entities (beneficial water & human enjoyment) to come together for once. I remember as a child that there was no stopping me from running in the rain and playing in puddles. Pretty sure the farmers rejoice too, because it means their crops get to flourish. I feel that most people, however, don't fall into these two classes, but there's still a way to reach out to everyone.

 I am no artist, in any sense of the word,...but I do have artistic sentiments aplenty. My current fixation revolves around giving a practical impression of beauty to each rain storm. Rain is already inherently beautiful, if you have the comfort of watching it from a dry sheltered spot. What I'm aiming for is a monument that can be appreciated at anytime, but which would be specially animated by a rainstorm. It could be something as simple as a statue that becomes a functional fountain in times of rain; or maybe something resembling a turbine, whose blades could be spun by the action of moving water, lending movement to another very visible piece.

 One item I found while leafing though "Street Furniture" by Chris van Uffelen was particularly inspiring: it consisted of two installations by an artist - Stacy Levy - who used a portion of sidewalk art/map to highlight the watershed of the locale. Once it rained, the flowing water accentuated the lakes & rivers, turning the map into a great focal point. These two installations are known as "Water Map" & "Ridge and Valley".

Ridge & Valley (Stacy Levy)

So for now, I have an inkling of a vision in my mind. Maybe someday I can pair up with someone who can bring it to fruition (...technically anyone who reads this). In the meantime, just thanking God for the rain, and hoping for a sprinkling of some of that childhood innocence; the kind that kept me enthralled by the beauty of the rain.


God Bless






Addendum: while going through Stacy Levy's site, I found yet another piece - Arroyo - built around this same rain motif. It's one I would really love to explore with local artists.