From the artist: In arid landscapes, water has always existed as both necessity and uncertainty, shaping settlement, survival, and belief. While technological innovation enabled civilizations to endure these conditions, periods of drought often gave rise to ritualistic attempts to influence the natural world. Across cultures, systems of magic and superstition emerged as parallel forms of knowledge for negotiating environmental instability when science failed.

In Utah, early colonial communities carried with them a hybrid of beliefs from the British Isles, Scandinavia, Greece, and Indigenous traditions. These practices are catalogued in Anthon Cannon’s 'Superstitions and Popular Beliefs from Utah' (1910–60), an archive of mythologies shaped by both migration and landscape. Among them is the recurring belief that killing a snake and hanging it on a fence will bring rain. This gesture is tied to older mythologies of sacrifice and seasonal renewal.