Examines the video and audio installation Floodsongs (1998) by the American artist Mary Lucier (b.1944), which was first shown as part of the exhibition Mud and Roses: the Aftermath of the 1997 Flood of the Red River of the North at the North Dakota Museum of Art in Grand Forks, North Dakota (5 Dec. 1998-31 Jan. 1999). The author discusses the elements of the installation, including interviews with the survivors, and household items salvaged from the flood, and explores Lucier's fascination with themes of memory, decay, natural disasters, and the experience of inhabiting and losing a home. In the light of these, she considers earlier works, including Antique with Video Ants and Generations of Dinosaurs (1973; illus.), Denman's Col (Geometry) (1981), Oblique House (Valdez) (1993; illus.), Last Rites (Positano) (1995; illus.), and House by the Water (1997; illus.).
