CASCADING MEMORIALS

In the last one hundred years, San Diego County has experienced an astounding rate of population growth--from 60,000 to over three million inhabitants. Correspondingly the county is home to more threatened and endangered species than any other county in the continental United States. “Cascading Memorials” fosters discussion about the future by bringing to public memory both recent and predicted losses brought about by rapid urbanization coupled with climate change.

The gallery includes memorials to particular sites indicative of the natural habitats that are rapidly changing or disappearing due to the combined effects of urbanization and climate change. Each memorial includes elaborate photomontages accompanied by pages from journal/sketchbooks that provide scientific and historical context. The montages, which compress or expand space, are designed to evoke the feeling of being in each locale. Seven questions along the wall invite curiosity about the images on view. These questions are amplified in the sketchbook pages placed on the pedestals identifying each site.

Memorials focus memory, providing a place both to mourn and celebrate. In the center of gallery, "a place to grieve" offers visitors an opportunity to grieve the astounding loss of local habitats by contributing their memories of the plants and animals that are dying and the places that have irreparably changed or no longer exist. But grief need not be paralyzing. In "a place to envision a future where all beings may flourish" gallery visitors are asked to engage in dialogue, sharing their visions on leaves that now sprout from all the branches of trees painted on a gallery wall.

Cuyamaca Mountains:

How Can We Be Good Stewards?