Page 51 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

Even for those who have stayed in one place, the changes that have occurred in San Diego

County just since the turn of the twenty-first century are hard to fathom. Fifteen percent of the

land area of the county, primarily back country, burned in 2003, and another fifteen percent

burned again in 2007, overlapping the earlier fire in some places. Most of the conifers in the

high country burned. I can only hope that they grow back in my daughter’s lifetime.

Similar stories can be heard elsewhere. Wildfires, drought and bark beetles have ravaged

western forests. Frogs are disappearing throughout the world; bats are dying by the tens of

thousands. Whether one listens to the news from around the continent, or pays close attention

to one place, the multiplicity of stories about environmental degradation are startling.

Middle Peak, Cuyamaca Forest, San Diego County several years after 2003 fire, 24”x40”

Now is a time not only to pay close attention, to bear witness, to remember—but to grieve. Cascading

Memorials is an ongoing project to provide spaces for public memory, places to share stories, and

places to mourn. It began in my community as a gallery exhibition, then moved to exhibitions

elsewhere, with plans for an interactive web site and outdoor public installations. The work calls

viewers/participants to attentiveness and to appreciation and gratitude for their surroundings. It

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