My Visit to Kiefer Landfill, Sloughhouse, CA - January 7, 2015
During my visit here I was bewildered by the overwhelming apocalyptic ephemera--the doll with the decapitated head, the fleeing birds, and the half-open book which the title header read "The Shadow Rising." Was this a sign of our own destruction? The experience of touring this facility was alarming--I've never seen so much waste [obvi, we were at a dumpsite]. It also made me think of other global impacts such as carbon emissions, deforestation, and ocean pollution. Was I (our community) doing enough to contribute efforts in reversing the harm being done to our planet?
About Kiefer Landfill (Gas-to-Energy Plant):
The landfill facility sits on 1,084 acres near the intersection of Kiefer Boulevard and Grant Line Road and is surrounded by more than 3,000 acres of open space. Most of these buffer lands will remain in agricultural use and for habitat protection. The Gas-to-Energy Plant opened in 1999 and removes gases from decaying garbage. Gas generated at the landfill powers 8,900 homes in the Sacramento area.
Artnium Project Display - October 11 - 13, 2019 (Display prints sponsored by Sacramento City College Photo Department.)
In all honesty, I never thought that a set of these images would actually be featured at an art showcase, but I am humbled and grateful that they are since it is related to a topic that I find urgent to demand actions for. In preparation for this show, as artists, we consider a variety of ways to display such work. At the university-level we were heavily graded on presentation and at the core of it all--perfection. As I attempted a few options, I recognized the potential behavior to be wasteful and had the urge to scrap my less-than-perfect display prints which were mounted onto 9x12" art wood cradle boards. Frustrated by the slightly damaged prints and imperfect cuts begged the question of whether or not they could still serve its purpose--in its simplest form the purpose of displaying an image for sharing an idea or point being made. The answer was YES. So rather to be wasteful in attempts for perfection, [with a guilty pleasure] it felt better to just let it be. As consumers of, everything, we should be more aware of the things we replace and whether or not that thing actually needed to be replaced in the first place [instead of it going to the landfill]. Could we repurpose things more? Could we recycle and reuse more? I think the answer to that is also YES.