The channel reaches the gardens on a schedule measured in shares of time rather than volume. Who receives water, and for how long, is settled by a system that predates every clock in the village.
Photographed over three days, mostly in the two hours when the shares change hands.
The sequence
- The Place
- The Person
- The Environment
- The Action
- The Detail
- The Relationship
- The Quiet Moment
- The Closing Image
The channel enters the gardens at the lowest point of the village and splits four times before it reaches the last plot.
The turn belongs to whoever holds the share for that hour. Waiting happens in the shade of the wall.
Each garden has a small earth dam and a stone to hold it. Both are kept where they can be reached without looking.
The dam is broken with one push of a foot, and the water finds the row it was meant for in about four seconds.
The mark on the wall shows where the water should stand when a share is full.
The handover happens without much conversation. The next share is already standing at the corner.
Between two shares the channel runs empty for a minute, and the sound changes completely.
By late morning the water has moved on, and the ground holds the shape of where it went.
Field notes
- Photographed across three days. TODO(content): confirm the dates and the name of the channel.
- Permission to photograph inside the gardens was requested from each garden’s holder separately.
- No elements added or removed. Edited for tone, colour and crop only.
If this is close to your project
Can you help us tell the story?
A short call is usually enough to work out whether a place, a schedule and a set of permissions can hold a story like this one.