Palmdale, CA, 2017
Archival pigment print
Edition of 3
23.25 x 43.5 inches
framed
Kim Stringfellow is an artist, educator, writer and independent curator based in Joshua Tree, CA. Her work bridges cultural geography, public practice and experimental documentary into creative, socially engaged transmedia experiences. She is a 2016 Andy Warhol for the Visual Arts Curatorial Fellow and a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in 2018. Stringfellow is a Professor Emeritus at San Diego State University’s School of Art + Design. mojaveproject.org, @mojaveproject
I’m the director of The Mojave Project, a transmedia documentary and curatorial project exploring the physical, geological, and cultural landscape of the Mojave Desert. The Mojave Project reconsiders and establishes multiple ways to interpret this unique and complex landscape through association and connection of seemingly unrelated sites, themes and subjects, thus creating a speculative and immersive experience for our audience. Ultimately, this project aims to create a comprehensive transmedia repository of knowledge relating to the contemporary Mojave Desert.
Begun in late 2014, The Mojave Project is an ongoing, multi-year endeavor that materializes over time through deep research and direct field inquiry through interviews, reportage and personal journaling supported with photography, audio and video documentation. In addition, I lead a program of public field trip experiences and satellite events that explores the diverse communities and sites of the Mojave Desert. Field Dispatches are shared throughout the production period at mojaveproject.org through our publishing partner, KCET Artbound. Installments include those of notable guest contributors, including Chris Clarke, whom I commissioned for a brief history of the emblematic Joshua tree. Clarke is a longtime desert activist and environmental writer.
Overall, The Mojave Project is concerned with the entire interrelated ecosystem of the Mojave Desert, including the human component. Anthropogenic-driven climate change, real estate development, continued military land grabs and expanding resource extraction industries, including industrial-scale renewable energy projects, are altering (often permanently) this extremely fragile arid environment at an accelerated pace. The western Joshua tree is at the forefront of this ecocide, and without protection, this desert region may lose its most iconic species.