Exploring Slab City

21 jul.

Wepa! Welcome to the third and last post about my journey through the California desert. This time around we headed to Niland, CA close to the Salton Sea in what felt like four hours of driving through the middle of nowhere (literally a wrong turn took us to an alley dirt “street” that also seemed to moonlight as illegal dumping site) but then we arrived to Slab City.

Slab City is one of the last places in the United States to be “free” - described as a land of survivalists and renegades. This wasn’t my first time in Slab City. The first time I decided to visit was moved by a VICE video that I watched about Salvation Mountain and its creator Leonard Knight. Leonard felt that God asked him to build a Mountain in his honor. Even though I’m agnostic, I always felt moved by someone with a vision and drive to create. In this case his drive is based on his faith, for some of us, our drive is based on purpose or passion, so why not go and see this man made mountain erected to praise God? But I digress, I visited Salvation Mountain probably around 2018 when I was in an unconference at the Ace Hotel in Palm Springs. Shoutout to Yes, Yes & Yes. By that time I had heard of East Jesus but Salvation Mountain felt far enough for that to be the end of our journey to Slab City. Little that I knew then that East Jesus was just 15 min away through more dirt and desert roads.

This time around when I planned my road trip through the California desert, I made sure to include a stop in this end of the world art installation. East Jesus was build in Imperial Country as eco-themed, desert-set art wasteland project with a sculpture garden of pieces made from “junk & waste”. The name East Jesus has no religious connotations it basically is a coloquial way to say that’s in the middle of nowhere. The East Jesus is part of the Chasterus Foundation’s which core mission is to protect, preserve, and grow East Jesus. They welcome visitors and artists daily for guided tours showcasing not only their sustainability initiatives and the art on display, but encourage them to participate. "The Chasterus Foundation strives to provide a safe space at East Jesus where artists can freely explore, learn, and create, whether by themselves or in collaboration with others in an environment of mutual respect. By creating a safe space, we take away any stigma attached to failure, as failing is how we learn. We create a place where women can express themselves in any way without the stigmatizations, expectations and attacks of modern culture. We create a microcosm where those who fall through the cracks of the modern world may thrive.”

We left East Jesus inspired, fulfilled and in awe. For this post I will just let the pictures tell most of the story: