Refill Station
Anna Rafalowski
Poster design by Madison Creech
OPEN NOVEMBER 13, 2025
Exhibition Statement
Refill Station explores the temporalities and materialities of water filtration. Having grown up in Wilmington, North Carolina and recently returned, I am struck by the shift in lifestyle residents have made to maintain clean drinking water due to the contamination of the Cape Fear River and ground water. On a monthly basis I refill a couple of five gallon jugs. 54 cents a gallon. The moment of filling a jug commands all of my attention, more than I expect. It takes six minutes to fill a jug, a static moment that holds both the privilege of access and the doubt of effectiveness. Housed in a former cargo shipping container that once trailed down the Cape Fear River Refill Station turns that moment into an installation of an over labored attempt to retrieve water.
More information about Michael Webster’s work can be found on his website:
https://www.annarafalowski.com/
This project is supported in part by the office of High Impact Practices and Shell Fish Research Hatchery at UNCW.
Exhibition Statement
Refill Station explores the temporalities and materialities of water filtration. Having grown up in Wilmington, North Carolina and recently returned, I am struck by the shift in lifestyle residents have made to maintain clean drinking water due to the contamination of the Cape Fear River and ground water. On a monthly basis I refill a couple of five gallon jugs. 54 cents a gallon. The moment of filling a jug commands all of my attention, more than I expect. It takes six minutes to fill a jug, a static moment that holds both the privilege of access and the doubt of effectiveness. Housed in a former cargo shipping container that once trailed down the Cape Fear River Refill Station turns that moment into an installation of an over labored attempt to retrieve water.
More information about Michael Webster’s work can be found on his website:
https://www.annarafalowski.com/
This project is supported in part by the office of High Impact Practices and Shell Fish Research Hatchery at UNCW.
Photos by James Farley