This new body of work is titled Eridanus: The River Constellation referencing one of the largest constellations in the southern celestial hemisphere, represented as a river. It is one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy. Extending farthest in the sky from north to south, it later gave its Latin name to the Po River. Eridu, an ancient city in the extreme south of Babylonia, was sacred to the god Enki-Ea, ruler of the cosmic domain of the Abyss—a mythical conception of the freshwater reservoir below the Earth’s surface. The title connects directly to the Po River, which runs through the centre of Turin and speaks of the connection between the cosmos and the earth by connecting waterways universally.
After Red Regatta, I continued to be alarmed by the precarious state of our waterways, followed the Venetian Lagoon’s waters back to their source. The Po River, Italy’s longest river, is an ancient and enduring life force that flows into the Adriatic Sea, just south of the Venetian Lagoon. When friends and collaborators in Italy shared news of the Po River’s neglected and dying state due to climate change and exploitation, I began to envision how to support the Po itself through a creative telling of its story. In July 2023 and in Summer 2024, I travelled to the Po’s source and delta, its beginning and its end. These deeply moving and engaging trips inspired a water storytelling project titled Lifeline, where the Po River is the guiding ancestral narrator.
This led to a deep dialogue with historical maps, specifically through collaboration with the State Archives of Turin. As archives, libraries, and collections are defined as much by what they include as by what they leave out, I reflected on what is recorded in these maps, what is expressed in the lines marking territories, calculations, names applied, and how nature and water are represented. What perspectives are represented? What is missing?
Through these interventions, the technical and scientific representation of the Po River represented in archival maps, are combined with a unique combination of organic materials, connecting us once again with the environment these maps delineate. Organic indigo, kaolin clay, copper oxide, homemade soy milk, vinegar and water, give a new voice to the historical representations, carrying both the water’s creative expression and the reflections of the stars of the Eridanus Constellation.
Maps given to me upon arrival at Parco del Monviso while visiting the Po River source act as a point of departure for a series of these works, in which I flood the detailed cartographic information of the original printed map with intricate flowing currents of homemade natural color, evoking the spirited expression of the waters of the Po Source.
What can be learned from the endless creativity of water and water’s ancestral life-giving, life-sustaining, life-regenerative wisdom?
Guided by waterways and the cosmos for over 25 years, Melissa McGill explores mysterious and extraordinary natural places and perspectives, offering new ways to navigate some of the urgent and relevant environmental topics of our challenging times. Each of her projects takes the form of a constellation – of individuals, organizations and elements – coming together to create new illuminated stories in reciprocity with nature.
Eridanus: The River Constellation
Mazzoleni, Torino
October 30, 2024 – 8 February 2025
Opening: Wednesday 30 October 2024, 6pm – 10pm
“Eridanus: The River Constellation is Melissa McGill’s most expansive gallery exhibition to date, encompassing work from 1998 to 2024. The exhibition illuminates the presence and interconnectedness of water and the cosmos throughout McGill’s artistic engagement.
The exhibition invites visitors to explore perspectives, mapping, water storytelling, constellations, and connections between past, present, and future, with a focus on community, meaningful shared experiences, and lasting positive impact. Engaging with water and organic materials in creative conversation and collaboration, the exhibition reflects the artist’s environmental values in her studio work and her interventions in public spaces.”