The Universe Fits in a Jar

This project arose from the phrase repeated by water protectors: "water is life." I use simple processes and spartan editing to study the interactions of light and water.

These are photos of a small jar of water. The bright colors and stars are steam trapped under different types of cooking oil.

I call this project The Universe Fits in a Jar, because it does! All the water you’ve ever drank or swam in is the same water that’s always been here. It’s all one water, arranging and rearranging itself as plants, people, whales, dinosaurs, everybody. All across time. Just how the one white light I use is bent and arranged into every possible color, the one water on this earth has been and will be every living thing. That’s why when I asked water to show me something, it showed me a whole expansive universe.

Water is sacred, because it contains all life while all life contains it. So a single jar of water holds the vastness of everything.

This interconnectedness is a loving truth, but also highlights a sobering reality. We have one water, and that one water is inseparable from itself. Anything done to one part of the water is done to all of it. What’s done to water is done to all life on Earth.