We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Liv Davidson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Liv below.

Hi Liv, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The project I am currently working on, titled ‘Not-So-Non-Point’ has become my most meaningful pursuit to date. Through video and installation, the project discusses non-point source pollution, intergenerational effects of climate change, and highlights non-human perspectives.

For background, non-point source pollution is the contamination of water or air that does not originate from a distinct source; it can have cumulative negative effects from small amounts of pollution from a small area. The small area I chose to focus on is Suffolk County, New York. This is where I grew up and learned of the negative effects of non point source pollution first hand through living by and lifeguarding at the Great South Bay.

Non-point source pollution has been something I have known about for a long time in some way. Growing up on The Great South Bay, I have always cared for marine life and preserving our natural world. Always curious about nature, I grew up spending time on the water, questioning when things would wash up on shore and asking about what had happened to them. Through my public school and local community I learned of the various kinds of pollution and what was happening with the bay. In high school I worked on many climate justice campaigns in hopes to preserve and revitalize our natural world. In college I later worked for a nonprofit in my town, whose main mission was to limit fertilizer use on lawns. Fertilizer, a nonpoint source pollutant, finds its way into the bay and has greatly negative effects on marine life.

Drawing inspiration from my own personal history has been rewarding. Caring about runoff, fertilizer use, and preserving a marine ecosystem, I felt a longing to make work discussing non-point source pollution’s effects on a place and its overlooked, and greatly affected, marine life.

In the video work, non-human perspectives are personified via storytelling. This storytelling is voiced by my family members. It features my Mother, Father, Uncle, Brother, Aunt and Grandmother. In the audio they echo each other, telling the same story from a non-human perspective. They speak over one another, creating a kind of chorus of voices washing over you. Hearing from multiple voices over and over, echoes the intergenerational effects of nonpoint source pollution.

Creating an opportunity to personify the directly affected marine life and having my family voice from their perspectives has been very rewarding as I feel akin to the water I grew up with. My family grew up with water in the area and we all have a great respect for it, so including my family in this work felt natural. This is the first time I have involved my family in my work so directly, making this project even more meaningful to me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I was lucky enough to grow up on Long Island, NY, with a family that cared for art and the natural world, so I spent a lot of time outside and making things as a kid and throughout my life. In my family I have always encouraged oddly pro environmental behavior, even from a young age. In the fourth grade I begged my mom for worms to do an experiment for our science fair where I would compost my family’s waste for a month. My mom reluctantly obliged to her fourth grade daughter and allowed her to keep worms in the basement and collect and weigh the family’s waste, titling the project ‘Less to the Landfill’. My mom still brings up this project to me, and the flies that came with it, so I would be remiss to not mention the project of family infamy.

I have also always had an interest in art, perusing it throughout my life and being encouraged by other creatives, like my uncle, Douglas Curran (who is a voice in my video work Not-So-Non-Point). In high school my art became more environmentally conscious when I worked on my AP project, exclusively using cardboard and digital media, to be more conscious about my personal footprint.

This care for the environment prompted me to pursue a degree in Environmental Studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges. There I also decided to continue my artistic practice, which got out of hand and became a second major, and eventually degree in Studio Art. This second major eventually took over my life when I realized I could combine my interests in the environment and art. This stemmed into my undergraduate honors project titled ‘Expedited Environment: An Artistic Interpretation of Shipping and Consumerism’, where I created works about the US and its shipping practices, highlighting Amazon prime and critiquing the environmental issues it perpetuates. After college I took a year off and did a few odd jobs while applying to graduate schools. I eventually decided to attend Pratt, where I am now, perusing an MFA in photography.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

In all my work I hope whoever is taking the time to view my work learns something new. With all of my projects inspired by the environment, and oftentimes what is threatening it, I hope for whomever is consuming my work to gain a new understanding or perspective on the topics I am interested in. Whether it be simply a greater appreciation for the natural world, or a gained understanding of how the environment functions, I hope for the viewer to take something from my work. I believe that understanding the natural world can help one gain respect for it, so I hope in my work new perspectives are gained and some greater understanding is reached.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect about being an artist is the constant growth that comes with it. I am constantly learning new things and gaining new perspectives. The change that comes with continually working on something you care about allows me to gain a greater understanding of myself which has been so rewarding. The research and dialogue that comes with making my work has enriched my life more than I thought it could. Gaining different perspectives from other artists and creatives is invaluable in creating work and catalyzing positive changes within it. I think change within my work, and what goes into that change, is what excites me the most and is what has been most rewarding to me as an artist.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.livdavidson.com
• Instagram: livdavidson.psd
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liv-davidson