Photos By Gail

Artist Sant Khalsa’s Statement on Pray for Rain (Prayer Wheel) 2015

“Living in the Mojave Desert, drought, and climate change are my impetus for the creation of Pray For Rain. The kinetic sculpture is intended to emote a message of emergency and distress – a focused plea for water – required for life and survival. The artwork integrates ideas from my earlier Distress Signals work about climate change, and the environmental crisis produced in the late 1980s and 1990s.

Pray for Rain is constructed from a clear blown-glass cylinder that is half full, or half empty, with water and embossed with the Morse code symbols for the word ‘water.’ Messages in bottles float in the water, each containing a word associated with water, such as snow, river, drop, cloud, and flow. The glass prayer wheel is capped with a blue blown-glass sphere, which represents our planet, which is mostly water. The light projection through the artwork and reflection on the wall produces wavelike patterns.

This artwork has inspired by the concept, design, and technology of the Tibetan Prayer Wheel. The Prayer Wheel continuously turns, referencing the Buddhist belief that each rotation of the prayer wheel is equal to the recitation of the prayers within. It is my sincere hope that each of us realizes the value of every drop of water, and we make the collective commitment towards conserving this precious resource, which sustains all life.”

Photographed at The Riverside Art Museum in Southern California