Like many, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, I became increasingly aware of and enchanted by the subtleties of the local environment- birds, flowers, and plants that I had previously rushed by in keeping up with the pace of “normal life.” As an art historian, I became especially interested in the role that photography has played in the land conservation movement, creation of national parks, and stewardship of the commons. During California’s Gold Rush Era, photography was used to promote the federal protection of land. However, at the same time, the new medium was used as a tool for extractive, land-destroying industries like mining and logging. In the Sierra Nevada Mountains, the photography of Carleton Watkins was used in Congress to argue for the formation of National Park Systems. Mining companies also employed him for industrial speculation. The histories of conservation and large scale resource extraction are intertwined. Both conservation and extraction required violent removal of Indigenous inhabitants and the destruction of large swaths of these stewarded ecosystems for the conservation of a few spectacular sites. This history begs the question: how can we reframe conservation? The collages are based on local ecosystems and environmental histories made of found and original photographs. By altering the photographs through collage, I ask us to look differently at the landscape we inhabit. The images challenge the celebration of the monumental aspects of nature and instead highlight the relationship between the built and natural environments. The style of the work not only riffs on the history of landscape photography, but also that of psychedelia, both of which have deep roots in the Northern California landscape. In my work, I ask what is the relationship between the landscape and the aesthetic innovations it co-produces with its inhabitants? This project included free workshops led by artists and naturalists.

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Funded by the City Arts Recovery Design, Santa Cruz