Face the Mist (2017)

In 1930 a stone arch bridge was built over Waller Creek at E. 7th Street in Austin, Texas. Its modest proportions and thick masonry construction make it a distinctively handsome bridge, but to someone in one of the 15,000 vehicles passing over its deck each day it might as well be invisible. Its charm, much like the ecology of Waller Creek below it,  is only truly appreciated when you descend the shallow banks of the creek and experience the area on foot.

But this area of Waller Creek is complicated. It’s in the midst of a massive flood prevention infrastructure project and will soon see a comprehensive master plan realized - one that will offer Austinites of all stripes access to new concert venues, pocket parks, trails, and entertainment.

It’s also a place of refuge for some of Austin’s most vulnerable communities.

While it is easy to overlook the existing character and potential of the creek from above, it is just as easy to miss this community that, for better or worse, occupies the area today. These individuals may be undocumented, homeless, uninsured, refugees, or otherwise displaced. Many battle mental and physical illness, and few have access to healthcare or trained medical professionals.

FACE THE MIST is a documentary project and temporary installation intended to foster an understanding of issues facing the city’s underserved populations, while also providing a means for Austinites to collectively effect meaningful change in the Waller Creek district.

In partnership with the C.D. Doyle Clinic - located less than three blocks west of the creek - patients will be given an opportunity to anonymously or publicly speak to the issues directly affecting their health and well being. Throughout the year a series of interviews and portraits will be compiled in both online and print formats. The resulting collection of people and stories will be available to visitors of Creek Show and the greater Austin community, encouraging awareness, empathy, and respect for the mission of the clinic and those it serves.

For ten nights in November, the portraits collected during the year will appear beneath the 7th Street bridge, projected onto an ephemeral cloud of foggy mist supplied by water from the creek, itself.  As faces fade in and out, their features are at times blurred or in focus, a byproduct of the installation’s reliance on only light and creek water as its medium. The spectral slide show will be supplemented by literature contextualizing the story behind each face, ways to support the nearby clinic, and the future of Waller Creek.

The installation will be logistically realized by two independent, freestanding rolled steel armatures connected by a long section of unistrut pipe. These armatures will rest on the creek bed and incorporate counterweights for stability, but will require no drilling or ecological disruption. A subsurface pump and filter will channel creek water through flexible tubing running up the armatures and across the unistrut pipe.

A commercial grade misting system, like those seen at restaurant patios on summer afternoons, will create the foggy mist that will billow from nozzles within the unistrut pipe. Two battery powered projectors, mounted from the armature above, will supply the imagery that will appear within the mist. Additional lighting and audio components may also be incorporated, but will ultimately depend on budgetary and site constraints.

A donation of $2,500 will be made to the C.D. Doyle Clinic, funded by the competition’s honorarium. As a student run, volunteer based free clinic, the donation would represent roughly half of the organization’s annual operating budget, and would allow the clinic to continue serving the members of the Waller Creek community with no other viable access to healthcare.