Rooted in personal experience, this project draws from my early years in a rural Lake Ontario community and a lifelong residence in the Great Lakes region. It is conceived as a tribute to the enduring presence, ecological richness, and cultural complexity of these inland seas. The lakes, for me—as for many—are spaces of labor, memory, mortality, and recreation. They evoke a powerful range of emotions: awe, wonder, fear, melancholy, joy, and reverence.

The representation of water has long served as a powerful metaphor, woven through mythology, religion, art, and contemporary environmental thought. At a time when humanity is renegotiating its relationship with nature—amid technological upheaval, environmental crisis, geopolitical change, and efforts at reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples—this series invites viewers to re-examine their relationship to the Great Lakes – as critical sources of life and profound cultural meaning.