Follow the Water Diviners trail to encounter eleven V&A objects carrying stories shaped by water. From toggles, lockets and embroidered threads to a spring-dwelling demoness and an irrigated highway, these objects connect legends, lives and landscapes across cultures.
Selected by artist Jumana Emil Abboud, they trace histories seen and unseen, speaking of resilience and everyday devotion. Along the way, prompts from the artist invite you to pause, reflect and imagine your own story within the shared watery legacy.
This trail has been developed during Jumana’s Jameel Fellowship, a research residency in the museum’s Middle East section. It is installed in the museum during London Design Festival, from 12 September – 19 October 2025.
Follow along to uncover hidden currents of memory, folklore and imagination that run just beneath the surface of everyday life.
Stop 1: Fountain
Wishing Water
This is a wishing fountain. Breathe in, slowly bow your head to acknowledge the water source.
Close your eyes and imagine you are giving water to someone or something who needs it most.
Now make a wish and say the following incantation:
I wish I may, I wish I might … WATER, guide my sight!
What I most want this trail to be for those taking it is a journey of hope, protection and transformation. As the only object in the trail that isn’t in the museum collection, the fountain reminds us that we are all custodians of the vital element of water. As we entrust our longings to this fountain, can we also remember those who do not have free access to water, and can we cast a drop of hope in their direction?
Stop 2: Netsuke
Map link: Japan, Room 45, Level 0
A Lucky Charm
There’s ritual in what we do each day –
in what we give and take away.
From water’s depths, a lucky prize,
hung at the waist, of charming size.
What do you carry to keep harm at bay,
or bring you luck along the way?
This finely carved toggle from Japan would have originally hung on a man’s waist sash to support an inro (a case for holding small objects). It portrays an image of capture, but it also speaks of security – the impulse to provide for loved ones. For me, this basket bearing fish and sea creatures is a talisman, carrying a quiet strength in a world where life depends on water.
Read more about the netsuke here.
Stop 3: Panel by Li Yuan-Chia
Map link: China, Room 44, Level 0
Ripples and Flow:
Like ripples on water, nothing stands alone –
each wave begins where another has grown.
Can you sense the flow, quiet but clear,
that connects all lives, far and near?
The work of artist Li Yuan-Chia helped to revitalise Chinese abstract art in the postwar period. The patterns remind me of a water stream, where the flow of water is rhythmic and cosmic – separate yet connected – comprised of drops, ripples and layers of entangled currents. Li’s work evokes the way stories unfold: framed by beginnings and endings, yet swept into a continuous, collective rhythm.
My collaborative storytelling practice follows a similar pattern, approaching stories in a non-linear manner, connecting memory (the past) with possibility (the future).
Read more about this object here.
Stop 4: Fatimid Water Filter
Map link: Islamic Middle East, Room 42, Level 0
Holding Water, Sharing Stories
A filter keeps the water clear, working gently.
How do we sieve from stories we share –
what flows through and what is kept in care?
Each drop, each tale we tell – leaves its mark.
Like water passed from hand to hand,
which story will you pass on, and which will you keep close?
I was drawn to this humble filter crafted in Egypt, because it listens – to water, and to those who drink it. Water filters would have traditionally been a functional object, sitting at the mouth of water jars to filter impurities, shared among the collective household. The filter speaks to me of care, for water and for the community it sits within. It reminds me how we hold stories too: gently sifting through, offering what’s needed, and carrying the rest with quiet attention.
Read more about the object here.
Stop 5: Embroidered ensemble from Palestine
Map link: Islamic Middle East, Room 42, Level 0
Every Thread a Marker
Palm leaves and feathers, drawn in dress,
seeds of story and an enduring caress.
A trace of home, a whispered line.
Silk threads marking name and time.
How would you wear with pride,
the stories your heart holds inside?
This embroidered dress speaks to me because it reminds me of the folktale of the caged bird. The bird lived in an enchanted garden, where its melodic song kept everything alive. Palms blossomed and flowers bloomed at the sound of its voice, which was said to cure the ill. One day, a king, desperate to save his dying daughter, had the bird captured and locked in a golden cage, so its healing song would belong to her alone. Though trapped, the bird’s feathers still shone with such brightness they could light the darkest nights. A light that stretched far beyond the cage, reaching those who still listened. Across lands, people began to stitch the story of the enchanted bird into the garments they wore – keeping its song alive through every thread that remembers.
This ensemble is part of the Tatreez: Palestinian Embroidery display. Read more about the object here.
Stop 6: Mughal painting illustrating a tale from the Hamzanama
Map link: South Asia, Room 41, Level 0
Ghouls and Waters
Guardians of water hold a tale from deep beneath the rippling stream.
Between belief and doubt, a path is shown, should you choose to listen close,
and a spirit – that can take many forms – guides you through the unknown.
What is it that guides you?
A name, a wishing fountain, a charm, a thread –
to brave the journey with hope ahead!
Long ago, a water spirit lived in the spring at the edge of the village – wild-haired, reed-skirted, with wide-set eyes and large ears that caught every whisper of the wind. Though she had never done harm, the villagers feared her for being unlike them, calling her a demoness and warning their children to stay away. One night, when invaders came to poison the wells, something unexpected occurred. The water rose in a sudden flood, sweeping the intruders away while the villagers slept unharmed. At dawn, an elder stepped forward and placed sugared dates and rosewater by the spring – in quiet recognition of a bond that had revealed itself. Since then, the villagers have left offerings at the water’s edge, and the spirit has guarded them in return – a quiet pact of protection, kept in sweetness and trust.
Read more about this object here.
Stop 7: Thetis dipping Achilles in the River Styx by Thomas Banks
Map link: Sculpture, Room 22, Level 0
Sacred Waters
Like Achilles dipped in sacred streams,
how do you honour life’s new dreams?
Where is your delicate heart exposed,
And how do you make space to heal and grow?
Strength comes from what’s fragile and true,
And from dipping our feet in water’s blue!
I chose this sculpture because it speaks to the power of myth and the power of water. The story of Achilles, dipped in the sacred river Styx yet left vulnerable at his heel, invites us to reflect on our own wounds: where have we left ourselves exposed? Water, with its flow and depth, reveals our vulnerabilities and protects us through its strength-giving element.
Read more about this object here.
Stop 8: Irrigación by Teresa Margolles
Map link: Photography, Room 100, Level 2
Miles
What does water carry when it runs over asphalt,
when it refuses to soak into the ground?
Watch it spill –
is it an offering, a wound reopening,
Or the beginning of a river finding its way?
I chose this video work because of its powerful gesture: using water as both witness and carrier of grief. In Irrigación, Teresa Margolles transports water containing physical traces from cartel-related crime scenes in Mexico to irrigate the arid ground of Highway 90 in Texas. This quiet yet confrontational act implicates cross-border complicity – particularly the flow of weapons from the U.S. It refuses the idea that such violence can be contained or erased, a sentiment that resonates strongly with my practice of storytelling as a quiet form of resistance.
The work also aligns with my interest in water’s capacity to hold memory and reckon with loss, not as spectacle, but in testimony. In this work, water does not cleanse – it hauntingly remembers.
This work is part of the display Photographing the American South.
Stop 9: Drawing of St. Michael's Mount by Claire Harrup
Map link: Leighton Corridor, Room 102, Level 2
Where Giants Played
Two giants raced along the shore,
a handful of earth flew from the roar.
From that throw, an island grew –
where waves still whisper stories true.
Listen close, the cliffs might say,
“Magic lives where sea meets day.”
Long ago, on the rugged cliffs of St. Agnes Head, there lived a giant named Goram. He was so strong that when he stomped across the land, he left valleys and hills in his wake. Goram and his brother, another giant named Bevis, were fierce rivals, often competing to win the heart of a beautiful princess. One day, Goram chased Bevis along the coast, and in his anger, he scooped up a great handful of earth and threw it into the sea. That very earth became the Isle of Portland, rising like a giant’s island from the water. Though the giants vanished long ago, the cliffs and the island still tell their story – a reminder of the power and mystery of the sea that shapes this land.
Just as wind and water carve the earth, legends shape a place. I chose this work because for me, it is a reminder of how stories live within the landscape. Passed down through generations, stories give meaning to nature’s design. Hills, cliffs and shorelines echo the stories that once gave them form.
This work is part of the V&A Illustration Awards, on display until 22 September 2025.
Stop 10: Locket with hairwork and pearls by Charles Robertson
Map link: Portrait Miniatures, Room 90a, Level 2
A Lock of Hair
Have you ever kept a lock of hair –
a tiny strand of memory, tucked with care?
A face, a scent.
Inside a locket, a story rare.
The name of one you hold so dear,
or the one who slipped away?
Long ago, a poor boy loved the king’s daughter, but the jealous king set him an impossible task: to bring back a golden strand of hair from a fearsome giant who lived across the waters. The boy journeyed far and crossed the water with the help of a mysterious boatman, who was doomed to ferry souls across for eternity. Returning with the magic hair, the boy won the princess’s heart. The princess keeps the golden hair in a locket close to her heart, a token of courage and true love.
And what of the king? Eager for the rest of the giant’s gold, the greedy king followed the boy’s instructions and stepped aboard the boat. Wishing to row himself, he grasped the paddles – and in that moment, the boatman was freed from his curse, and the king was condemned to ferry souls across the water forever more.
I chose this locket because it holds more than a face – it carries the talismanic power of story, a quiet promise carried close. Such miniatures were often painted at ports, for voyagers, and are therefore closely connected to the ocean. The locket is a reminder that love, memory and courage protect us. Promises have their own kind of magic.
Read more about the object here.
Stop 11: Nautilus shell by Nicolaas van der Kemp
Map link: Silver Galleries, Room 69, Level 2
Drink From Me
Drink from me,
but listen first for the spiral’s echo.
What waters have I crossed?
What hands have held me, what tides claimed me?
If you could sip a memory from my depths,
whose story from across borders would surface in your mouth?
What needs to be carried forward?
This shell’s journey from ocean depths to ornate ornament reveals intertwined histories of colonial extraction, trade, and possession. I chose this object to bring these tangled legacies to the surface and invite reflection on what it means for such a treasure to rest in a museum – a place where beauty, wonder, and power converge.
Like the shell carried by water, stories are passed from hand to hand. Listening closely becomes an intricate way of holding objects in museums – not as lifeless relics, but as living witnesses. My hope is that the stories and activations along this trail can spark new stories of collectivity, not only across the museum, but in the ways we live and imagine together.
Read more about the object here.
Acknowledgements
The artist would like to thank the V&A Jameel Fellowship programme and Asia Department curators, especially Rachel Dedman whose generosity and support have meant so much. Many thanks to Tim Stanley, Anna Jackson, Mariam Rosser-Owen, Fuchsia Hart, Rabeeah Qureshi, Holly Power, the LDF team, and all the visitor experience staff for their insight and encouragement in developing the Water Diviners workshops and trail.
