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Imperial Geographies: How Border Policy, Pollution, and Labor Create the Modern Salton Sea and Imperial Valley at LA Artcore
Los Angeles, CA – LA Artcore will host the multidisciplinary project, Imperial Geographies: How Border Policy, Pollution, and Labor Create the Modern Salton Sea and Imperial Valley by artist and environmental educator, Carly Creley. The exhibited work follows the course of the New River from the Mexicali Valley to the Salton Sea. It includes a series of photographs of the sources of air pollution in the region, and a series of paintings depicting the effects of water pollution in the Imperial Valley. Video based interviews allow local residents to tell their own stories and explain how environmental injustice affects their lives.
Just south of the Salton Sea in south-eastern California’s Imperial Valley, the U.S. city of Calexico straddles the border alongside the Mexican city of Mexicali, creating a single community despite the wall that divides it. The Imperial Valley is the cherished home to thousands of people, and the place where many more make their living, yet the needs of those who live there are ignored by the very entities who rely upon their labor.
The New River, one of the most polluted waterways in the country, is the locus of this indifference. As it moves northward, the river collects sewage, agricultural runoff, and industrial waste. Near its terminus, it leaves toxic dust behind on the playa of the drying Salton Sea. Thousands of people work in the fields, where temperatures reach 130°F in the summer. They inhale toxic fumes from pesticides, dust from farm fields and dirt roads, windborne sediment from the drying Salton Sea, and exhaust from the long lines of vehicles carrying commuters across the border. The conditions create some of the unhealthiest air in the United States. Record levels of asthma, bronchitis, and heart attacks go unaddressed, and children as young as 11 die of cardiovascular disease.
Grassroots organizations monitor air quality and campaign for legislation to improve conditions in the region. In the face of overwhelming resistance to change, the people of these valleys have fought valiantly for their health and their future. Their story cannot be ignored.
Imperial Geographies examines the hidden inequities and environmental justice issues that disproportionately affect residents of the Imperial and Mexicali Valley regions. It highlights the work of local residents, and asks citizens across the U.S. to take responsibility for human and ecological rights in the region.
This project was made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Visit www.calhum.org.
Exhibition Program and Events
Saturday, December 9, 2023
6 - 8 p.m.
Opening Reception
LA Artcore @ Union Center for the Arts
120 Judge John Aiso Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
December 10, 2023
2 - 4 p.m.
Artist Talk and Community Discussion
Enjoy a talk by the artist, then participate in letter writing or artistic creation based on either environmental justice issues in the Imperial Valley or your own life.
LA Artcore @ Union Center for the Arts
120 Judge John Aiso Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
December 8 - 14
Thursday - Sunday
12 noon - 4 p.m. and by appointment
Exhibition on view
LA Artcore @ Union Center for the Arts
120 Judge John Aiso Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
About Carly Creley
Carly Creley is a professional educator and Certified Naturalist from Los Angeles, California, who holds a bachelor’s degree in Food Marketing and Agribusiness Management, and masters degrees in Environmental Science and in Education. This combination gives her an intense interest in environmental justice, which is the focus of her current artistic work and scholarship.
In addition to her career teaching science, Carly leads an annual weeklong volunteer trip to Sequoia National Park where participants engage in writing, visual arts, and science activities with an emphasis on interactions between human communities and the environment. She has extensive experience creating community learning experiences, exhibits, lectures, and conversations in diverse settings including classrooms, art facilities, online, and in the field.
Her work has been exhibited at Art Share L.A., the Fine Arts Gallery at California State University, Los Angeles, and throughout the state. Her art has been published in Spectrum, the Sand Canyon Review, and the East Jasmine Review.
She has presented Imperial Geographies at the Imperial Valley Desert Museum and the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association Conference in Los Angeles, California. Her scientific research has been published in the Bulletin of the Southern California Academy of Sciences. She hopes that her work draws others to venture out on their own journeys to places that will become just as important to them as they are to her.