In western scientific concept it is believed that universe is created by the four elements : Water, Air, Fire and Earth.

Each of these elements contains its own unique characterize, and It cannot be told whether they’re good or bad, although each element has both positive and negative sides. Nobody is perfect and whatever your personality is, you have both pros and cons.

It is so important to know your element, in order to figure out your basic emotions, desires, strengths and weaknesses.
By understanding your element you will be able to know yourself and appreciate your personality.

The concept behind Bill Viola’s (b,1961) work is mostly about these elements (Water, Air, Fire and Earth).

“Water is everything for me, that’s what I do” Viola said in his interview with The Space.
The idea of self knowledge: For the first time humanity could see their own reflection through the medium of water.
In other words, water shows your individuality to yourself, shows your personality.
He said that when he was a child he had drowning experience, and now he figured out this is the reason he is using water in his works a lot.
Under the water, under the surface of the water is always a mysterious. Its a world that you cant image it easily.

This incident effects on his whole life. Viola drown to the end of the lake like a stone and saw the most beautiful world down there. He saw all the movement and waves of the water like a moving image, “it was all blue and green.”

“I fell into a lake when I was six years old, and I fell to the bottom and I saw probably the most beautiful world I’ve ever seen and it was colourful and it was light and these plants where moving. I see it regularly. I see it constantly, almost, in my mind and my mind’s eye. It was a kind of paradise and so I felt that was the real world. I was very lucky because I didn’t die, my uncle saved me. But what happened was I was shown just by this accident that there’s more than just the surface of life; that the real thing is under the surface.” (Interview with Voila byThe Space)

We All Know The Body Is 70% Water

In human body, mind works as an intellectual part, it says what to do and when to do and it has connections with heart, but heart feels the joy, sadness, emotions and etc.
That’s all mediated by water, we all know the body is 70% water. And this water is flowing all the time, it’s moving and flowing “thats who we are, we are moving image.”

“The Dreamers” (2013) consists of seven channel screen video/sound installation which display people partly dead and partly alive, underwater with their eyes closed.

This video installation draw the spectator attention to the faces, and the way that they are suspended in the water makes this feeling like the water is a part of their bodies, they are on their reflection and it’s flowing around them.

For representing an idea or a narrative Time and Space are two basic elements, in “The Dreamers” the time does not exist, but the place is kind of multiplied.
The place, or in other word the water is part of the character and this is reality and the information and data is flowing around them.

Author Niloufar Zabihi Zohari

Pictures from Blain Southern & Hunger TV