What is the importance of art in the novel, We Are Water?

or many of the characters, the shaping and development of art represents not only creativity, but a chance to express and/or deal with aspects of emotion and personal history in a way that leads to a degree of peace and healing. This is particularly true of Annie,who uses her unique visual art as a way of releasing the anger and pain associated with her history of being sexually and emotionally abused as a child; it is also true, later in the narrative, of Orion, who uses the process of creating a work of fiction as a way of releasing the loneliness and pain associated with his having been abandoned by his father and grandfather. On another level, the Prologue shows how the creation of art can also be a source of joy, as Gualtiero Agnello finds comfort and happiness in painting and repainting the image of a happy young girl. On yet another level, the darker side of being associated with art is revealed through the character of Viveca, for whom art is a commodity, and a means of achieving status.