Voices from the Drought is a participatory art project by researcher Annelys de Vet, vzw De Weg (Sint Lucas Antwerp) and Natuurpunt Natuuracademie, exploring alternative approaches to sustainable water management. The project brings together experienced newcomers and local environmentalists to exchange perspectives on drought, flooding and the future of water — connecting ecological knowledge with lived experience and creative imagination.

Belgium ranks among the top 25 countries facing water stress, and 75% of Flanders' wetland has been lost in the past sixty years. The 2021 floods made the urgency undeniable. Voices from the Drought responds to this reality not with data alone, but with imagination — arguing that a culturally inclusive and visually rich discourse is essential to sustainable and equitable water management. Over a series of guided walks in the Dijle valley, thirty participants explored the landscape together and reflected on their personal relationships with water. Their stories and insights formed the starting point for a series of artistic interventions: personal water biographies, a herbarium of locally gathered leaves, and watercolours made with water from the Dijle itself. The resulting 'visual voices' range from disappearing rivers in Iran and dry lakes in Mexico to mountain streams in Colombia, flooded polders in the Netherlands and kitchen gardens in Melsbroek — a collective, sensory atlas of water across climates and cultures.

The project's outcomes are shared through public events, debates, a bilingual publication and a travelling exhibition, and are designed to be repeated in other contexts to keep the conversation alive.

See: www.stemmenuitdedroogte.be