Playa

A playa is a desert drainage basin and occasional shallow lake.  For three consecutive years, I visited a playa in Southern Arizona.  It was once used as a US military bombing test site, but was later placed on the National Natural Landmark list due to its rich fossil pollen deposits below the surface.  At the time of my visits, it was used as an informal shooting range and for off-road joy riding.

Each group of photographs responded to the playa’s environmental and cultural temporalities: conditions of silt, mud and clay distributions, dry and wet periods, and traces of human activities.  Each series emerged through immediate site encounters, rather than a pre-planned approach.  

YEAR 1

silver-gelatine prints, 11” x 14” (individual)

YEAR 2

silver-gelatine prints, 100” x 128”
Exhibition: Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco Art Institute

YEAR 3

silver-gelatine prints, 5”x5” each image (8”x10” paper)