2024 → Who Actually Owns Your Water? (Concept)
Access to water is a human right and should be affordable. The privatization of water puts the ownership of water into the hands of corporations, threatening the affordability of water especially for those of lower income communities. While privatization has been pushed due to the cost of maintaining aging sewer systems, commodifying a necessity such as water, can limit accountability and allows cut corners, ultimately affecting the people who use that water while costing the same (or even more) than public water.
Location: Exterior of Buildings on S Third St and E San Salvador St, San Jose, CA. Any building exterior with pipes
Audience: General Public, Residents/homeowners
The mural is intended to raise awareness of water privatization with its location outside of buildings in areas where residents can walk by and see. It depicts water coming from the pipes of the building and being redirected away from the building to reflect the lack of ownership people have from water. “Who actually owns your water?” is written along the design as well. The design is intentionally minimalist, using only the blue colors and text with the intention that the audience is only going to glance at it when they walk around their neighborhood and think back about who they pay for their water.
Concept Sketches.