What happens when a community turns its back on its waters? Currently much of Escondido Creek, which runs in front of the California Center for the Arts Escondido museum, where this project was first exhibited, is hidden behind chain link fences and obscured by a cement channel. “Daylighting Escondido Creek Watershed,” helps create a watershed moment by encouraging dialogue around what has been hidden—the wonders of the watershed, its changing ecology due to urbanization, globalization and a warming climate, and possible visions for maintaining and rejuvenating the watershed’s future health. The installation includes both two and three-dimensional elements—large photomontages on exhibition walls, and tree stumps encouraging dialogue in the space. One faux tree stump fitted with a motion sensor plays clips of interviews gathered with homeless populations living in the watershed and activists concerned about the future of the region. Two others are fitted with touch screens, one with diagrams of the tree rings of Escondido oaks to the year 2100 based on two differing models of climate change, another with a form for visitors to write letters to the trees or share visions for a local climate action plan.

For more images, sound and interactive website see: DAYLIGHTING ESCONDIDO CREEK WATERSHED website