Every summer, the start of hurricane season is rightfully feared by nations bordering the Caribbean. A bad storm can break societies, as hunger, sickness and death set in after the winds and waters calm down.

At the same time, the moisture that comes from the storms that pass over Texas and into the Southwestern United States fuels the monsoons that preserve Arizona’s arid and vulnerable desert ecosystem. 

The rhythms of water, then, connect the Caribbean and the Southwestern United States, and determine the future of both societies. 

Spanish,and then United States colonization is a second factor that unites these regions. It shapes how water affects a society, as resources are extracted for the self-interest and the whims of the powerful at the expense of the native and local populations. 

“SIN AGUA,” what artist Sofía Córdova calls an “anti-documentary trilogy,” deftly recognizes this parallel and explores the relation between time, colonialism and water — its absence, significance and excess — in Arizona and in her home, Puerto Rico, after the impact of 2017’s Hurricane María. 

“A hunt for water across Time, ways of surviving here,” opens the poem outside the dark room at MOCA Tucson where her films are projected.

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