Meniscus

The Meniscus Series, an ongoing work by artist Nathalie Lavoie, depicts two bodies of water merging: fresh water from the Mackenzie River as it is dropped into the salty waters of the Pacific Ocean. By mixing these specific waters, the artist is referencing her own experience of moving back and forth between her home along the river in the Northwest Territories and Emily Carr University on Granville Island while she pursued her Masters Degree. This movement between the two waters challenged her sense of place, her understanding of site, and what it means to carry history from one location to another.

The scientific term “meniscus” refers to the curved surface of a liquid in a container. In this series of macroscopic photographs, one type of water is dropped into a container of another type, thus disrupting the meniscus and making it impossible to accurately read the measurement. As the two waters mix, the transformation alters the solutions in a process that is simultaneously creative and destructive. These photographs makes visible the transformation, capturing the moment at which it is most noticeable but not measurable.

Lavoie adapted this work for the bus shelter at Southwest Marine Drive and Granville Street in May of 2014.