“Brackish registers ” is a project developed by resident artist Claudia Lehmann.

In Cyprus, where aquifers are depleted and exposed to salinisation, the slow intrusion of brackish water becomes not only a geochemical process but a material witness to over-extraction, climatic strain, and shifting land use. Salt acts as a counterpoint between heritage degradation, threatening drinkable water and cultural continuity, and its role as a preserving agent. Copper, its name derived from the island (aes cyprium), formed when ancient seawater circulated through volcanic rocks, dissolving metals and redepositing them as copper-rich sulphides. Seawater enabled this mobility, making brine both medium and catalyst for the island’s mineral wealth. These same minerals shape the history of photography and the heritage of the island, linking material process to progressively intruded waters and, in turn, enclosed cultural memory.

From one extractive trade to another, intrusion is intensified by imported touristic consumption: virtual water embedded in globalised diets draw on distant rains whilst leisure resorts deepen local scarcity. Using analogue film immersed in brackish water, transmuted through saltwater copper electro-etching, and spatialising water management, consumption and terrain, the work becomes both evidence and archive. Water and salt inscribe themselves onto the image, transforming the medium into a witness developed by the crisis it records.

Scientific Contributor:
Dr. Christos Zoumides – Research ScientistWater Department of the Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC), The Cyprus Institute

The residency was supported by the Department of Contemporary Culture – Deputy Ministry of Culture in Cyprus, as part of WIP LAB 2025 organized by CYENS Centre of Excellence.