From the Mississippi or “Father of Waters” to “Mother Ganges” (Ganga Mata), the importance of water to life itself is international and universal, yet often abused, especially when it simply takes a turn of a tap.

Billy X. Curmano is known for extreme projects in the environment like a desert fast, arctic journey and 2,367.4-mile Mississippi River Swim as performance and environmental statement. Each morning before the Swim got underway, he performed a ritual that with variations became his Cleansing Ceremony. It has even been performed after a Pipe Ceremony and with the approval of elders from the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe in Northern Minnesota.

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Now, he carries the spirit of the Great River – a vial of water collected from its source on the swim’s first day - to join with New York waters in a “Cleansing Ceremony” for Art in Odd Places 2017: SENSE.

*Mni Wiconi; Water is Life.

*Lakota

("Water is Life" has become the rallying cry for the Water Protectors of the Standing Rock Sioux)

“It’s not the blood, but our deeds that make us human.” – Archived Billy