A Journey through DesertX 2021
Hello again! This is part two of our California Desert experience blog posts. A big part of our trip was to visit the DesertX art installations located all over the Coachella Valley in Southern California. Curated by Desert X Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and Co-curator César García-Alvarez. “The Desert X 2021 exhibition explores the desert as both a place and idea, acknowledging the realities of people who reside here and the political, social, and cultural contexts that shape our stories.”
The Passenger by Eduardó Sarabia
The first hot breezes of the desert summer glazed my body, sweat, heat, mask, hat, water and sand, all part of my journey through “The Passenger”. As I walked through the installation, I started to feel this deep sadness. The empath in me felt my eyes getting watery as I walked through Eduardo Sarabia’s installation located in Palm Desert. The artist wanted us to feel the uncertainty and despair that immigrants feel while navigating the maze of their journey to a “better life”. The labyrinth was made of petates, a fundamental material in Mexico’s basketweaving traditions. It’s used to sleep and also to bury the death and the use of it in this installation makes you understand that this path is exactly that, a life or death pilgrim to the “land of the free”. The desert as a location has being part of so many journeys dating back to biblical times. It seems that the desert is a metaphor for suffering, purging and renewal of life.
What I can tell you is that I really wanted to leave the maze fast. I felt this deep feeling of unease that I couldn’t shake off. I felt my privilege as a Puerto Rican, US citizen and passport in my pocket, which I was born into but have always felt foreign to it. Such much complexities, some journeys are through excruciating circumstances and all while in search for a life of better opportunities, others are born in this country and still feel foreign. I don’t pretend to comprehend or even understand the suffering that anyone journeying to another “country” goes through but for sure I want them to know that the world should be open to anyone and that all of us are truly descendent of immigrants. Our ancestors need us to not stay quiet and demand justice for anyone imprisoned in facilities for walking through the desert longing for a new reality. If you want to lend a hand by donating, these non-profits are helping immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico Border: RAICES (The Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services), Kino Border Initiative (this inclusion was recommended by my Mom after visiting them through her humanitarian efforts while living in Arizona), The USA for UNHCR, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and Doctors with our Borders.
Parapivot (sempiternal clouds) by Alicja Kwade
After what it seemed like a mile of uphill trekking, we meet Alicja Kwade’s, Parapivot. A piece inspired on the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, where the position and momentum of the installation is uncertain since the observer’s interaction changes based on the angles by which its observed. All these uncertainties are connected and constructed on the reflection of the fundamental properties of the Universe. Uncertainty, change, beauty in the eye of the beholder, particles, wavelength and the possibility of different momenta based on the vastness of the universe, are all part of the artist interpretation of time and space. It all made me reflect on how in life we all see things from a different angles based mostly on our traditions, upbringing, values and reality.
The Wishing Well by Serge Attukwei Clottey
Nested behind what it seemed like a school in Palm Springs, we found: The Wishing Well, who’s main mission is to make us meditate about the treks many people have to make around the world to access water. The correlation between the artists home in Ghana versus the Coachella Valley, asks us to think about our shared future and how water scarcity will be our near reality. The two large-cubes are made of a material called Kufuor, which was introduced by the Europeans and used to transport cooking oil. As repurposed relics of the colonial project, they now serve as a constant reminder of a past that always hunts us and how climate change even when not felt directly at our home is still everyones responsibility. Environmental justice is not a cause we might want to follow, it’s imperative that we all take stands to change our consumption habits so that the underprivileged and underserved communities and countries don’t continue to suffer the injustices of a capitalistic world.
Never Forget by Nicholas Galanin
Nicholas Galanin’s art installation screams for action and asks us to learn about the history and truth that is not to told and to honor and do right by those that came before you. His proposal looks for the visitor to understand the history of California and how the original land stewards (with history dating more than 10,000 years), own now less than 3% of land titles.
If their mission resonates with you visit The Land Back movement and learn more about their intention and objectives. Their purpose is about recognition of, and respect for Indigenous knowledge and sovereignty, and returning what was violently invaded and occupied. Is important to mention that all funds raised go to the Acquisition and Land Management Fund of the Native American Land Conservancy (NALC). The NALC was founded in 1998 as an intertribal 501(c)(3) non-profit organization with a mission to acquire, preserve, and protect sacred lands.
What Lies Behind the Walls by Zahrah Alghamdi
What Lies behind the Walls, is a monolithic wall made of stacked materials fluctuating from cements, soils, and dyes specific to different regions of Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabian visual and land artist, Zaharah Alghamdi wants to express how this composure of mix materials carries their own cultural story imprinted in the interconnection of place and time. A short walk that, like most of the DesertX installations, included a pilgrimage to encounter the artist proposal, evoked a sense of connectedness between the arid environments of the Coachella Valley and Saudi Arabia.
