Water Ways
Water
Water is sustenance. Not only as clean water to drink, but as food and livelihood. Cape Cod is my home away from home. It is not just a tourist destination. It is a place of hard work, culture, history. Provincetown, the tip of Cape Cod, is a fishing village, artist community, LGBT safe haven. The building in the cover photo reminds the visitors of the Portuguese women, often forgotten, who were the heart and soul of the Provincetown fishing village. The women pictured here are mostly immigrant women who arriving at the United States from mostly the Azores and mainland Portugal.
Water transports and connects people to new land. Harbors are point of entry. My ancestors arrived in the early 1900s at Ellis Island. Italian immigrants searching for a better life. At a time when immigrants in the US are seen as a “problem” to be controlled, the women of Provincetown stand as reminder of the important work of immigrants throughout United States history.
Water is also life, grace, strength. It is my spiritual place where I watch the sun rise in community with my teammates. It is supportive, demanding, rhythmic, playful. Colors weave through it as the morning begins.
Water is solitude. Standing at the ocean reminds me of how I am but a small part of this large world.
