Once considered a “ghost lake” in California, the torrential downpour of rain experienced in 2023 has resurrected bodies of water like Tulare Lake. It was considered one of the largest freshwater bodies west of the Mississippi before it would be depleted of its water in the 19th century through the creation of canals, dams, and ditches that would divert water from the region for agriculture. Lucrative crops like pistachios are planted on thousands of acres of the lakebed.

As a fourth-generation descendant of a Southern California farming family, Ann Diener has a deep connection to the land and is fascinated with its continual state of change. Several years ago, while visiting her late grandparents’ farm, she was struck by how abruptly and significantly this land had changed. No longer was she able to recognize her old haunts or familiar landmarks; the crops and trees were gone, the roads were reconfigured, and fertile farmland was covered in a shroud of industrial farming operations.

Artist Serena JV Elston is a transdisciplinary sculptor contemplating the body and its relationship to structures of power like patriarchy, capitalism, and gender. Her research-based practice explores ecology, posthumanism, disability, and embodiment through a post-colonial lens — a historical period or state of affairs representing the aftermath of Western colonialism. Elston critiques the institutional preservation of Western civilization.

Amongst his twenty published books and over eight-hundred photographs, artist and author Charles Hood has focused much of his attention on wildlife and nature. He has traveled globally, documenting aspects such as resource allocation, regional fauna, and the evolution of natural landscapes. Hood’s work brings attention to both the political and environmental nuances of these varied regions in order understand how these locales are shaped and still constantly evolving.

Artist and curator, Debra Scacco, questions how value is prioritized. Common threads of mapping and storytelling are present throughout her artistic practice. Working closely with cartographers, historians, activists, and scientists, Scacco studies the lines that direct everyday life, including boundaries drawn by policy, infrastructure, and societal perception.

The intersection of the natural world and humankind is key to Sonja Schenk’s artistic practice, which explores this convergence through a variety of forms: painting, sculpture, installation, and time-based media. She is interested in geography, anthropology, the future of humanity and how these elements reflect on modern life. Much of Schenk’s work is site specific, utilizing research of the area to create individualized projects that in her words, “fit[s] a place.”