“The natural elements of prosperity seem concentrated in profusion seldom found. In our primitive simplicity we reasoned that if we could take ores from the mountains and reduce them to gold and silver with which to pay for labor and purchase the productions of the valleys, a community could be established in the country independent […]
There are many community gardens in the Phoenix area. They are all used to grow food but they each one is unique. Some provide recreational space for a specific population, while some are used to grow as much food as possible to help those who do not have to eat. The physical garden spaces vary […]
Please Check Surroundings for Safety is a collaboration between my boyfriend and I — and a 2014 Mazda 3. Fascinated by the discovery that our new car had a reverse-facing camera, which enables only when the car is in reverse, we began to text each other images of what the car was “seeing” while we […]
What happens in the landscape beyond the edge of human structure, where the wild and the controlled collide? In this place, we are removed from the order of the urban, but we are not yet surrounded by the wilderness. This place in-between is The Buffer Zone. The Buffer Zone is just beyond the ever-expanding sprawl […]
The thing in-itself is transcended by perception whether the “thing” is photography, space, or realties. I am interested in photographing spaces into becoming something more than description. I use the Phoenix area as a place to explore the ideas of transcendence in order to create an environment outside of literal space.
Months before the Valley Metro Light Rail opened for travel in December 2008, Ryan Heckel methodically photographed every undeveloped lot along its path with an interest in understanding the change and impact of its construction. Now, with over a million passengers per month in 2010, and planned expansion over the next two decades, we can […]
The Heat(e)scape project emerged when Sean Deckert, an artist interested in the urban heat island effect, met with Karina Benessaiah, a geographer interested in how people perceive and adapt to changing social and ecological systems. Through the combination of infrared & normal video camera systems with interviews and music, this project seeks to articulate a […]
The landscape in and around Ajo, Arizona provides a valuable lens with which to examine the way people and place interact. Ajo’s geography dictates its industries. With the closure of the mine, Ajo’s main sources of income have become border patrol and retirees. Ubiquitous green and white SUVs patrol for desperate migrants in the same […]
When I moved to Arizona to attend the MFA program I was aware that I could be considered a “non-traditional “ student or just an old student. Yet I did not feel old, that is until we moved into a retirement trailer park. My husband found our trailer, which appeared to have everything we could […]
In tracing a visual urban history of dynamic central city neighborhoods a common misconception is made: “then and now”, “now and then”. Discontinuity and loss seem the primary effect as space and time are ripped asunder by this binary, linear view. Upon a second, and maybe third viewing, the tension between “past” and “present” reveal […]