aqueous memory archive

A collaborative collection of memories with & in water contributed by artists, writers, musicians, educators, & activists

Photo of Evan Gilbert as a young boy with his grandfather fishing

Evan Gilbert

Canal behind Grandparents house in Miami Fl

This is a dream i had as a teenager several years after my grandfathers passing. In the dream I’m on a small boat flying fast through a canal that resembles a hybrid of the one my grandparents lived on and the deep swamps of the Everglades. The sun is setting I turn around to see my grandfather steering the boat with an excited look on his face. We fly through the water with fishing poles trailing behind. I reel in a fish it’s a saltwater fish, a dolphin( mahi) fish. It lands in the boat and slowly turns into a wooden version of itself still moving and gasping for air but made of wood. My grandfather says “I can teach you to clean that if you like” I wake up.

Evan Gilbert • He • Miami FL/ Brooklyn NY

I am an artist who lives and works in Brooklyn NY. I grew up in Miami FL in a family that spent lots of time in the ocean/ bodies of fresh water fishing, snorkeling, swimming, wake boarding etc. My Grandparents lived on canal, growing up I spent a lot of time at their home sitting by that canal. Some of the first things I learned to draw were taught to me by my grandfather, images of fish and birds that lived in or around the canal they lived oN.


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