Dreams on the Dying Stone (2022 - ongoing)
“...Then humans will come ashore and paint dreams on the dying stone…”
- Joy Harjo
Dreams on the Dying Stone documents the communities of the Imperial Valley in California that are at the center of one of the country’s most important water crises. Stretching along the US-Mexico border between the Salton Sea and the Colorado River, this agricultural region was born from the ambitions of fortune-seeking settlers who transformed the arid desert into fertile farmland by digging canals to divert Colorado River water into the dry landscape. Today, the Imperial Valley produces over 90 percent of the nation’s winter vegetables, consuming more Colorado River water than Arizona and Nevada combined. Yet it remains one of the hottest and poorest counties in the Western United States. As climate change and overconsumption cause the river to dry out, the future of the valley’s residents hangs in the balance.
This project documents the clash between constructed agricultural landscapes and the harsh, natural beauty of the desert. It focuses on the daily lives of local communities and how their existence, often dependent on farms, is being permanently altered by water scarcity. By photographing the people whose livelihoods are inextricably linked to this changing environment, Dreams on the Dying Stone offers a glimpse into what we stand to lose in the face of climate change.
This series explores the desert not just as physical but as an imagined place—a canvas upon which humans have long projected their ideas of progress and change. Dreams on the Dying Stone chronicles the collision between human ambition and environmental reality, revealing the limits of progress when confronted with the unyielding forces of nature.
“...Then humans will come ashore and paint dreams on the dying stone…”
- Joy Harjo
Dreams on the Dying Stone documents the communities of the Imperial Valley in California that are at the center of one of the country’s most important water crises. Stretching along the US-Mexico border between the Salton Sea and the Colorado River, this agricultural region was born from the ambitions of fortune-seeking settlers who transformed the arid desert into fertile farmland by digging canals to divert Colorado River water into the dry landscape. Today, the Imperial Valley produces over 90 percent of the nation’s winter vegetables, consuming more Colorado River water than Arizona and Nevada combined. Yet it remains one of the hottest and poorest counties in the Western United States. As climate change and overconsumption cause the river to dry out, the future of the valley’s residents hangs in the balance.
This project documents the clash between constructed agricultural landscapes and the harsh, natural beauty of the desert. It focuses on the daily lives of local communities and how their existence, often dependent on farms, is being permanently altered by water scarcity. By photographing the people whose livelihoods are inextricably linked to this changing environment, Dreams on the Dying Stone offers a glimpse into what we stand to lose in the face of climate change.
This series explores the desert not just as physical but as an imagined place—a canvas upon which humans have long projected their ideas of progress and change. Dreams on the Dying Stone chronicles the collision between human ambition and environmental reality, revealing the limits of progress when confronted with the unyielding forces of nature.