The Life of a Drop of Water
Hernan Paganini
King County Water and Land Resources Division
An artist residency yields experiences and visual tools that increase awareness of stormwater.
In 2017, a national study out of Yale University found that Latinos are especially ready to take action for climate change, inspiring King County’s Water and Land Resources Division to deepen its engagement with Latino and Latinx communities. After English, Spanish is the county’s most commonly spoken language.
This desire led the agency to establish its first Artist in Residence (AiR) with its Stormwater Services Section, which works to prevent flooding and maintain water quality as rainwater collects and carries pesticides and other toxins into nearby streams, lakes, and rivers—and ultimately into Puget Sound.
Argentinian artist and Seattle resident Hernan Paganini was selected for the residency. From late 2018 to late 2019, he worked with King County staff to understand the significance of stormwater and produce art experiences that reveal its connection to water quality and public health. Paganini set out to foster a sense of personal connection and collective responsibility within Latino and Latinx communities, using his art practice as catalyst for dialogue and social change.
He began by offering a pair of workshops for youth in an immersive underwater scene bathed in blue light. The workshops, one in English and one in Spanish, began with a sensory meditation, followed by an imaginative drawing exercise, and concluded with the creation of a large underwater landscape composed of participants’ drawings.
Paganini then developed a series of stencil designs to be used on streets and sidewalks to mark stormwater drains, the first of which was piloted in White Center’s Greenbridge neighborhood in July 2024. The stencil designs also reflect a graphic identity that Paganini created as a tool for unifying the Stormwater Services Section’s many awareness and education campaigns. A final publication describes his AiR experiences through evocative photos and narrative vignettes that center on water.
In it, he writes, “The landscape is not only a thing to contemplate, it is knowledge about ourselves of who we were, we are and we wish to be.”
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Born in Zárate, Argentina, Paganini, studied and taught graphic design at Buenos Aires University. He has participated in international artist residencies and exhibited his work at multiple art fairs, biennales and shows around the world. In 2012, he launched a nomadic school workshop called Viaje en Barco, which ran for five years across institutions in Latin America and Europe and engaged both children and adults in making art in the natural environment. Paganini moved to Washington after completing an artist residency at Facebook in 2017.