The “Um of Water,” a reimagining of British artist Amy Sharrocks’ Museum of Water, was an eagerly anticipated program that was to be part of Luminato 2022.
The Museum of Water started on a London street corner in 2013. An exhibit by British artist Amy Sharrocks, it was a tribute to water and a celebration of its significance. Sharrocks spent years collecting the specimens: vials of floodwater, containers of tears shed in grief and ecstasy, aromatic samples of sewer runoff, droplets that evoked the feeling of rocks rubbed smooth by rivers. The project became a meeting place, a space for reflection on the range of human experience.
The “Um of Water” was to be a milestone, a reimagining of Sharrocks’s original idea and a beautiful collaboration in Toronto public art. Instead, an abrupt cancellation two days before the festival, with apologies from Luminato on social media, have rattled Toronto’s arts community. In her email to Luminato, signed “Um of Water,” Sharrocks asked that the remainder of the $156,000 budget earmarked by Luminato for “Um of Water” be paid out to the artist collective — with an equitable amount paid to the water. The email also asked for a $9,000 hosting fee, and for funds to support the collective’s mental and physical well-being during their healing process.
“We felt the contract they initially proposed to us was all about accountability, responsibility and the safety of Luminato,” said Jimmy in an interview. “But it wasn’t reciprocal at all. So we countered with amendments to the contract as well as recommendations around safety of Indigenous people … But they asked us to draft that contract for them.”
In statements, Luminato has apologized for not giving enough resources or support to the project, but its account differs on some of the details; a representative said the festival provided “a written program schedule” based on the collective’s proposed program and that key deliverables were reviewed with the collective at the weekly working meetings.
In May, the collective met with senior leadership staff and raised their concerns about the lack of resources and the way festival producers were handling their project. Then, a week before the festival, things came to an impasse. By late May the artists had grown alarmed that Luminato had not yet rented key audio equipment they needed for an “Um of Water” boat tour near Woodbine Park. The exhibit was a sonic art piece on the boat, and included an Indigenous elder and a commissioned musician.
Sakamoto-Jog had joined Luminato in January; she learned of the extent of the logistical problems with the “Um of Water” programming in late May. “I think that’s the first indication we had that, that some of the details that were necessary to really present this fully were not in place in the way that we’d hoped and that there was some dissatisfaction from the collective about the process,” she told the Star. “The project — it did not feel ready.
that while it was clear the festival had “communicated timelines poorly and caused undue stress” to the collective, the festival wanted “to continue to work with to determine what we can accomplish in the time that we have that we can feel good about sharing.” That week, a new Indigenous production manager they had brought on had sourced the receivers needed for the boat tour. And the collective had finally received a contract from Luminato. “There’s a quote there,” McCue said in June.
According to Denise Bolduc, the “Um of Water” case also isn’t the first time Luminato has demonstrated a failure to adequately support and advocate for Indigenous artists. Bolduc, an Anishinaabe and French artist and producer who was involved with “Um of Water” early on, has worked with Luminato for five years and led several programs there, including the 2017 opening event “Tributaries,” a four-part series of performances.
A later social media post from Luminato offered an FAQ about the “Um of Water,” detailing why it had been cancelled, whether the artists had been paid and the next steps for the festival in this matter.
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