Hold Water I

Azraq, Jordan,
2019

Installed on a water tower in the small community of Azraq, Jordan, this project sought to create awareness on both the history and future of water use and conservation practices in Jordan.

Text by Seanna van Helten

Project Details

Project

Hold Water I

Location

Azraq, Jordan

Commissioner

aptART for Mercy Corp and USAID

Al-Azraq is situated in the eastern desert of Jordan, 100 kilometres east of the capital, Amman, and 70 kilometres from the Saudi border. The direct Arabic translation of the name Al-Azraq is ‘blue’ – a poetic reference to the area’s renown since ancient times for its glorious natural oasis and abundant water supply. The Azraq wetland, an area of pools and streams surrounded by tall grasses, bullrushes and reeds, is one of Jordan's six nature parks, established by the country's Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN).

Since the 1980s, however, the site has risked ecological disaster as the Azraq water basin has been pumped to supply Amman’s booming urban population. Some estimates state that the pools have shrunk to 0.4% of their original area, leading to the drastic decline in the number of migratory birds for which Azraq was once celebrated.¹ According to the RSCN, by 1993 the extraction of water was so great that no surface water remained and the oasis’s ecological value was virtually destroyed.²

Resident points to the former wetland oasis, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 Photograph: Guido van Helten — *Resident points to the former wetland oasis,* Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 **Photograph: Guido van Helten**

The Oasis as pictured in 1966 Azraq, Jordan. Photograph: Eric Hosking — *The Oasis as pictured in 1966* Azraq, Jordan. **Photograph: Eric Hosking**

While one in every four glasses of water in Amman originate here, this small community of just 9,000 people has felt the dramatic effect and loss of its natural environment. I spent time here learning of this story through engagement with residents, along with filmmaker Emad Rashid, resulting in a painted mural on the town’s water tower.³

Child plays with water tap in local resident backyard, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 Photograph: Guido van Helten — *Child plays with water tap in local resident backyard,* Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 **Photograph: Guido van Helten**

An aging painted mural of the wetland habitat, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 Photograph: Guido van Helten — *An aging painted mural of the wetland habitat*, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 **Photograph: Guido van Helten**
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Makani School, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 Photograph: Guido van Helten — *Makani School*, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 **Photograph: Guido van Helten**

The design is based on photography taken during van Helten’s site visit and workshop with the Makani Jordan school for Syrian and Jordanian children in North Azraq. The workshop was designed to invoke the community’s collective memory of the oasis habitat using colour photographs from the 1960s as a prompt. The handling of these images is intended to symbolically convey the preciousness and scarcity of water at a time when overuse and drought has brought instability to Azraq and the broader Middle Eastern region. The colour blue is an important element, referencing the meaning of ‘Azraq,’ the community’s collective memory of the once lush desert oasis, and the promise of restoring the waterways to their former brilliance.

Workshop at Makani School, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 Photograph: Guido van Helten — *Workshop at Makani School*, Azraq, Jordan. August 2019 **Photograph: Guido van Helten**

Curated by aptART for USAID and Mercy Corps, the project aimed to raise awareness for these issues as well as the positive water conversation practices and aid programs facilitated by the commissioning organisations and the Jordan government.

Such programs – as well as conservation, eco-tourism, and other tactics to rehabilitate the oasis – have now begun to restore significant portions of the Azraq wetland and lure back some of the migratory birds.⁴