Page 52 - Dark Matter:Women Witnessing Issue2

provides a space to share in the wisdom of scientists and fellow citizens, and to grieve the rapid loss of

the environments in which we live.

Cascading Memorials: Urbanization and Climate Change in San Diego County, Athenaeum Music and Arts

Library, San Diego 2012

I have begun to create memorials to specific places that are undergoing rapid change. I focus on

specific sites so that I can get to know them intimately. I return to each place frequently to

photograph. Instead of the heroic sublime so frequently invoked in landscape photography, which

distances the viewer, I present a fragmented, layered perspective of dynamic systems undergoing

unusually rapid change. Carefully stitching together photographs is for me an act of reverence,

respect. I try to convey a sense of my gratitude, the wonder of the experience of being in a particular

place. Accompanying the photomontages in gallery exhibitions, a single poetic question on the wall

ignites viewers’ curiosity. Sketchbook pages allow for more detailed exploration, combining text,

drawings and photographs to provide scientific and historical context, and raise further questions.

Continually returning to the same places provides the opportunity to look closely. It was only after

years of walking on Carmel Mountain that I realized that the puddles along the path were actually