Conceptual artist’s Nida Sinnokrot’s totemic sculptures Water Witnesses were on view at the Old Jubail Market as part of Sharjah Biennial 16: to carry.

Situated throughout the space, the Water Witness engage with the architecture of the Old Jubail Market by creating moments of resonance and reflection. These objects fuse industrial water infrastructure with traditional clay vessels and are inspired by Canaanite goddess sculptures and Palestinian amulets from the collection of Dr. Tawfiq Canaan.

Evoking ancient practices of guardianship, resource stewardship, and the equilibrium between myth and ecology, they challenge colonial hierarchies of resource control, their policies of land theft, and practices of expulsion and destruction. Another major element of the commission for the Biennale, the sculpture “Capital Coup”, by Nida Sinnokrot and Sakiya, reimagines the U.S. Capitol Building as a wire-frame chicken coop.

It references architectural drawings and exploded-view diagrams, deconstructing the symbols of centralised authority. A classical architectural element, the Capitol is transformed through the presence of the sculptures into their mythological counterpart. “Water Witnesses” suggest to view the Capitol’s symbolism as a vessel for interconnected flows of water, sound, and memory, invoking narratives of care and renewal.

www.sharjahart.org/en/sharjah-biennial/sb-16