{"id":78003,"date":"2026-05-19T08:19:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:19:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=78003"},"modified":"2026-05-19T08:19:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:19:22","slug":"water-crisis-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/water-crisis-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"Explore an exhibition that maps Arizona\u2019s water crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

Water\u00a0<\/span>insecurity in<\/span>\u00a0Arizona is no longer a distant concern but a present and measurable reality. Years of prolonged drought, rising temperatures and increasing demand have strained rivers,\u00a0aquifers\u00a0and reservoirs across the state.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"People<\/a>The\u00a0\u201cOur Water: Innovations and Collaborations in Arizona\u201d\u00a0exhibition\u00a0explores how collaborations\u00a0and\u202finnovations\u202fcan help shape a more just and resilient water future in Arizona through a combination of art and research. The exhibit was created in the context of Arizona Water for All, a partnership funded by the governor\u2019s office to\u00a0bring together community members, organizational\u00a0partners\u00a0and academic researchers from Arizona\u2019s three state universities to address water security.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a huge issue with water in our state,\u201d said\u00a0<\/span>Ashleigh M. Day<\/span><\/b>, associate professor\u00a0in\u00a0the School of\u00a0Communication. \u201cThis\u00a0type of crisis\u00a0can be\u00a0really\u00a0hard\u00a0for people to\u00a0process, because\u00a0we still have water coming out of our taps at home and can still take a shower whenever we want.\u00a0But the water is dwindling, and for many cities in Arizona, even some up here in northern Arizona, the issues with how we are governing the Colorado River, and other water sources, are serious.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibit started at Arizona State University and then traveled to the University of Arizona. Now,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0NAU\u2019s turn to host it, and Day said\u00a0although there will be some commonalities in the exhibition, the plan is to localize it\u00a0by collaborating with\u00a0northern Arizona\u00a0water experts, highlighting regionally specific\u00a0topics\u00a0and displaying local art.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Collage<\/a>
Saving Every Drop and Water is My Life by Janet M. Yazzie, River Slickers by Elina Gentilhomme, Red Rock Trout by Kate Cochran, In the Canyon by Cassidy K. Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lucero Radonic<\/span><\/b>, associate professor in the\u00a0Department of\u00a0Anthropology, has been working alongside Day and\u00a0<\/span>Miriam\u00a0Nelson,\u00a0<\/span><\/b>NAU\u00a0alumna\u00a0and program coordinator for Arizona Water for All, in this endeavor.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Radonic\u00a0said the exhibit will introduce people to the water challenges of Arizona while showing them the different forms of innovation that require collaboration to find solutions to water problems.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn our research at the\u00a0Water, Society, and Policy Lab, we found that the one theme that everyone mentions when discussing the future of water in northern Arizona is collaboration,\u201d\u00a0Radonic\u00a0said. \u201cHow can we work together to ensure that different communities have water security? How could we figure out ways of getting over conflict? How could we have ways of disagreeing productively? When we had an opportunity to bring the exhibit here, we decided to add a focus on collaboration and developing\u00a0new content\u00a0to the exhibit that is\u00a0Colorado Plateau focused.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of these collaborators are the Indigenous\u00a0people who live in\u00a0northern Arizona,\u00a0their voices\u00a0will be present in the exhibit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter decades of exclusion, the federal government has been increasingly working with tribes to try to monitor, learn from and figure out adaptive management for water resources,\u201d\u00a0Radonic\u00a0said. \u201cWe will have one panel on current Din\u00e9 involvement in the Glen Canyon Dam Adaptive Management Program and another one looking at the Hohokam canal system of southern Arizona as a form of infrastructure that has allowed a civilization to flourish\u00a0in the area.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0little bit of past, present and\u00a0maybe future\u00a0as we think about water in this region and how\u00a0we can adapt to our limited\u00a0resources.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Radonic\u00a0added that the goal of the exhibition is to get people to\u00a0think about their different relationships with water\u00a0in northern Arizona, and\u00a0some of the local artists who have been invited\u00a0to display their work\u00a0will\u00a0help reach that goal.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Art<\/a>
Water is Life by Selina A. Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe have some amazing work being presented,\u201d Radonic said. \u201cThere is a three-dimensional installation by Selina Scott, who is a Din\u00e9 and Hispanic artist. It is inspired by her family and the connection between land,\u00a0water\u00a0and our mothers. This exhibit is a way to give back to our community, not only to the practitioners and the residents who have\u00a0participated\u00a0in our research projects. We hope people will\u00a0come and learn\u00a0new things about water in the area and realize that the future of water security is at that intersection of policy, technical\u00a0innovations\u00a0and a profound understanding of socio-cultural values.\u00a0I think the exhibit\u00a0does a beautiful job of showing that it is not only about technology, it is not only about policy, and it is not only about people, but about how they all interrelate.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200b<\/span>\u200b<\/span>\u201c<\/span>\u200b<\/span><\/span>Our Water: Innovations and Collaborations in Arizona\u201d\u00a0will be on view May 15-June\u00a019\u00a0in\u00a0the School of Communication Gallery (Bldg. 16, second floor). It is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-5050 | mariana.laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Water\u00a0insecurity in\u00a0Arizona is no longer a distant concern but a present and measurable reality. Years of prolonged drought, rising temperatures and increasing demand have strained rivers,\u00a0aquifers\u00a0and reservoirs across the state.\u00a0 The\u00a0\u201cOur Water: Innovations and Collaborations in Arizona\u201d\u00a0exhibition\u00a0explores how collaborations\u00a0and\u202finnovations\u202fcan help shape a more just and resilient water future in Arizona through a combination of art…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":78004,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community","category-happenings"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}