The wetland is comprised of two components, the wetland and a natural sculpture that takes the shape of a nest. Nests are symbols of safety, home, and protection. This nest serves as the ephemeral shelter for a floating wetland of native plants that are designed to filter and clean toxins from the lake. In conjunction, when we protect the minority communities of Austin, who have been the backbone of cultural creation for generations, we can also begin to clean the toxins of our city’s ancestral trauma. The main material of the sculpture, dried invasive bamboo, symbolizes the rapidly spreading change that the city faces today and how it is our responsibility to be the change for the future.
Common Waters serves as a reminder that Lady Bird Lake is an essential part of our city’s identity and how we can come together as a community to protect it and each other for future generations.
Meet the Artists
Taylor Davis
Taylor Davis is a landscape architect, artist, and curator who is passionate about the intersection of landscape and public art. Her work explores how natural and urban environments can be intertwined. She has investigated cultural preservation and land stewardship in the historic Dallas Freedom Community and the possibilities of carbon sequestration in urban landscapes. Recently, she curated the show Exotify Elsewhere with Grace Sanabria, exploring the oppression and exclusion of the culture and bodies of women of color.
Ruben Esquivel
Ruben Esquivel is an artist and a creative maker of Mexican, Spanish, and Native American descent born in Austin, Texas. Ruben is a muralist, canvas artist, and designer and credits his exposure to various creative outlets growing up to pursuing a multidisciplinary art career. After studying art history in Italy in 2013, Ruben returned to Austin and completed an internship with a local art collective that led to a full-time position. Since then, Ruben has immersed himself in the creative industry through artist management, event production, mural painting, and graphic design. In 2021, Ruben founded East End Eclectic, a creative agency that serves artists through management services and consulting. His current focus is expanding his portfolio and creating large scale murals in his hometown.
Rejina Thomas
Rejina Thomas is a maker of art, connector of culture, and creator of community. Her acclaimed artwork is widely held in many collections around the world and her clients range from Ann Richards, the Democratic National Convention, Human Rights Commission, to the Queen of England. Thomas ignited Austin’s eastside arts scene with her Pine Street Station Studios, and her thought-provoking exhibit Ascension was shown recently at the George Washington Carver Museum in Oct. 2017 through Feb. 2018.
