So that’s how I got to fountains,” Council says. I could also continue to talk about the body because they’re so dynamic with fluids. And through fountains, I could challenge institutional notions of care, because they’re such high-maintenance objects. “They are a meeting place, they are something that people return to, they’re hopeful. “Fountains are a great way to make an offering to the public,” Council says. I thought that now is a good time for this because anyone who was able to witness the fountain during the pandemic is a survivor.”Ĭouncil (they/them) loves the chance encounters people have with their work when it appears in public spaces. “9-11 survivors, people who talk about colonialism and post-colonial survival, a climate refugee who’s dealing with an ecological sense of survival. “Because I love oral history and gossip, I did some interviews with different people who work with survivors of all different backgrounds,” Council says. Called “A Fountain for Survivors,” the fountains were inside a womb-like structure made of resin and foam the electric pink and purple sculpture was covered with a mosaic of 400,000 acrylic nails. Bright colors spiral out of their fountains, like the one in Council’s most recent fountain commissioned by Times Square Arts in New York City and on view from October 2021 through December 2021. Pamela Council’s art is playful and evocative.