Living Waters invites visitors to reflect on cross-cultural solidarities, our shared histories and possible futures, and the fundamental significance of water in human life by exploring the significance of water to a diversity of communities in North Carolina. The installation is grounded in embodied research artist-in-residence R. Stein Wexler conducted into Jewish traditions of ritual bathing (mikveh) and purification of the body for burial (taharah). In ongoing partnership with collaborators including those who practice Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Ifa, and members of Native American tribal communities, Wexler gathered recordings of rituals and water samples from sites across the state.

Commissioned by the North Carolina Museum of Art with funds provided by donors to the Initiative for Jewish Art and Culture.