A filmmaker, artist and human rights activist, Mary Jordan grew up in Canada and in the US, but love brought her to Estonia. She has cooperated with several organisations standing for human rights to create documentaries. She is a spokesperson to the West regarding the global water crisis and is dedicated to developing public art space.

Mary has studied art, and social anthropology. Her sensitive, observing nature has led her to locations all over the world. She has made several movies regarding human rights in India, Burma, Indonesia and African countries. Those films have appeared at festivals in London, Rotterdam and Los Angeles. However, her first long and award- winning documentary — “Jack Smith and the Destruction of Atlantis” (in 2006) — portrays the controversial life of a revolutionary artist.

On her journey in Africa, Mary came across a problem — accessibility to clean drinking water. In 2010, Mary founded an international art organisation called Word Above the Streets, aiming to draw attention to the water problem that impacts millions of people every day. During the Water Tank Project, water tanks on the roofs of New York will be wrapped with artwork created by dozens of artists to portray the water crisis.

You can read about Mary’s observations about bottlenecks in Estonian society from the Estonian daily, Eesti Päevaleht. As the hostess of Kõue manor, she is in the process of transforming the manor into a centre of modern art.

http://wordabovethestreet.org

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