The Memory of Water
by Allen Smutylo

Book Description

For the past 25 years, Canadian artist Allen Smutylo has traveled, written and created artwork in and about some of the most remote and desolate places on Earth. In the High Arctic, Patagonia, the Amazon, Antarctica, the Himalaya, the Ganges and Rajasthan Smutylo has sought his muse.

In the 10 autobiographical short stories accompanied by stunning artwork, Allen Smutylo's The Memory of Water chronicles his own insightful, personal and captivating relationship with water.

In the Arctic he is attacked by a polar bear, stalked by a rogue walrus, and nearly drowns in ferocious waters. But his Arctic stories also celebrate human creativity as they recount the life of the pre-Inuit people, who, hunting in a changing environment, endured many hardships and developed new technologies, such as the sea kayak, to cope. Other stories include an account of his years living in a small Georgian Bay fishing village as a young artist, an adventure on an urban river in southwestern Ontario, and a portrayal of the complex underwater world of the South Pacific. Travelling the River Ganges in India, the author finds that a massive misuse of water is complicated by a billion people's faith-based adoration of the same water.

At its core, The Memory of Water probes a crucial and contemporary issue--that of our relationship to water and the wildlife and human life that depends upon it. This book will appeal to anyone interested in the natural world, in artistic depictions of it, or in a good story well told.

 

 

Allen Smutylo
504095 Grey Road 1
Georgian Bluffs, Ontario, N0H 2T0
Canada
email: allensmutylo@bmts.com