Advocacy & engagement
Much of my work focuses on intersections of global forces within local contexts. It remains contextually and collaboratively determined and inextricable from issues faced by communities in their effort to resist unhealthy outcomes.
MEXICO [2014-2017]
The new colonialism: a small Mexican town struggles to retain its identity, water rights and way of life as a multi billion dollar corporation disguised as a mindful living development occupies the landscape, co-opts the cultural currency, destroys the social fabric and extracts the wealth of the community. During this time I documented the people and the landscape of the area and collaborated with others to support the community in the fight for patrimonial rights. In addition to photography and contributing content for social media campaigns, I devised art interventions and performances relevant to the cause. In 2018 Mira and the Black Creek Group withdrew plans for the development. For more information link to http://www.patrimoniofilm.com/ and https://truthsantosnow.org/
ALASKA [2012 - present]
The Shield series advances my intention to expose the separation of self from nature — a root cause of environmental degradation — while positing reintegration of self with nature as a means for healing the planet. I address this split and its reversal in Shield, where (re)integration further constitutes a deliberate and defiant act as participants use reflective mirrors to both
merge their bodies with the landscape and to deflect the assault of corporate interests in such disparate communities as Todos Santos, Mexico, and Ester, Alaska. This series also marks the formal and symbolic gestures of projection and protection in my work.
marco/frame [2016-2018]
This intervention documents the disappearance of the desert and coastal landscapes of Baja California Sur, due to development. Participants frame their favorite part of the landscape, with their photo taken holding the frame. The art intervention creates both a record of the landscape and a memorial, heightening awareness of the prospective loss.
