Michela Dianetti, Lucy Elvis, Chiara Li Mandri

What is Hidden Depths?

Hidden Depths is a climate education project that explores the attitudes underpinning our relationship with water through a series of outreach workshops at Westside Library. In collaboration with the library, the project brings together two primary schools and one active retired community to engage in intergenerational philosophical dialogue.

The project invites both young and older participants to reflect on the conceptual and ethical questions surrounding water conservation in contemporary society. Using the Community of Philosophical Inquiry (CPI) approach, it explores our relationship with water in creative and reflective ways, emphasising its ubiquitous yet often overlooked value.

WHY HIDDEN DEPTHS?

Water is everywhere, and precisely for this reason, it often escapes our attention. Hidden Depths responds to this paradox by creating space to reconsider what is most familiar. It asks how we might begin to value water not only as a resource, but as something that shapes our thinking, language, and forms of life.

The project engages participants with questions such as: Does water have a voice? Why do we struggle to value what is always present? How might we learn to perceive water differently? By working across generations, it also seeks to foster shared forms of attention and dialogue around environmental responsibility.

Practices

The project was delivered through a series of interactive workshops designed to spark curiosity and collective reflection. These sessions involved sharing philosophical ideas inspired by water, facilitating discussion in a caring and democratic space through CPI, and exploring metaphors, figures of speech, and poetic expressions related to water across different languages. Participants were also supported in the creation of a collective video inspired by the workshops and discussions. The final phase of the project is being carried out in collaboration with a professional video artist, Emma Zukovič, and the outcomes will contribute to a collective audiovisual piece shaped by participants’ reflections and experiences.

The project was led by Michela Dianetti, with Chiara Li Mandri and Lucy Elvis, and with the support of Nicola Bozzi and Geoff Whitty.

It is funded by the Sustainability Office at the University of Galway, in collaboration with Galway Libraries.