// Si Caigo en el Canal, Nada, Nado //

There are forests and towns submerged below the water’s surface in Panama. The drama of the harshly altered landscape and the man-made divide stirs a quiet presence in the everyday. While pieces of the material world float by in colorful containers, daily life carries on, integrated along the shores of an international waterway.

I was introduced to Mr.Brown, a local fisherman and nontraditional medicine man. We sat on the edge of the canal one morning waiting for fish to bite when he slipped and fell, toes splashing into the water. In response to my worry, he quickly assured me: “Si caigo en el canal, nada, nado.”

If I fall in the canal, I simply swim.

This photo/video series presents an array of windows from which to view and reconsider the Panama Canal. A bridge between oceans, a gap between lands, a once exclusive U.S zone, a fossil excavation site, an artificial water source, a chasm, a scar, a glimpse of the sea.

Tova Katzman is an artist and visual storyteller from Massachusetts. Her work stems from conversations and research while documenting social and environmental themes that intersect with science, global politics and spirituality. She received her BFA in photography from Massachusetts College of Art and Design. In 2017, she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship to pursue an art and research project in Panama. The resulting series, "Si Caigo en el Canal, Nada, Nado" was exhibited in Panama City in 2018. She has given various photography workshops and has spoken about her work at the Panama Museum of Contemporary Art and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Tova lives and works as an artist, freelance photographer, and collaborator between Panama and the U.S.

You can find more of Tova’s work on her site: www.tovakatzman.com

& follow along on Instagram: @tovakatzman