White Washed

I began developing this project in the fall of 2023 along with studying the Hohokam people and visiting spaces in which they were the first to call home. While I am still finetuning the type of work that will be included in the project it currently involves landscape photographs illustrated with alternative processes. This project illustrates how the actions of our ancestors affect us today and I hope to amplify the voices of Arizona’s native communities while fostering a conversation between other white people on how we can support our native neighbors.

These images were made at Dobbin’s Pass, one of the many peaks in the now South Mountain range, just south of Phoenix, Arizona. What was once the Salt River Mountains were first purchased by the City of Phoenix from President Calvin Coolidge for $17,000 in 1924, which also means it was the park's 100th birthday this year. The stone buildings at the Dobbin’s Pass Recreation Center were constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps between the 1930s and 1940s. The corps was formed to create jobs during the great depression and employed about 4000 men over its 9 years of activity in the South Mountains; it was during this time that they built multiple living quarters, pathways, mapped the area, and likely “defended” against native populations. Prior to the city’s existence there was a variety of native cultures that thrived throughout Arizona as early as 2000 BC! The Hohokam people were the first known residents of this area, it is believed the Salt River Mountains were a sacred land to these people. Cultural aspects of the earliest native communities reflect architectural, artistic, and social styles or structures of early Mesoamerican groups. As a lover of the Sonoran desert I have struggled with Arizona’s dramatic population increase, overwhelming suburban growth, changing climate, and destruction of native culture. We must acknowledge that we are a part of the issues with this desert and its native people, and to help correct the wrongdoings of our past we must lean into the history of this land. 

These are anaglyph images that require a special set of lenses to observe the image to its fullest capacity. I chose to present this in such a way to represent the history of this land, its strife, and the multifaceted groups of people that reside here; to understand it you must choose to look through multiple lenses. My hope for this work is that it encourages others to spend a little extra time thinking about their impact on wherever they live and specifically how they can understand the history of this country a bit more. I also want to revitalize the conversation about our native communities and what U.S. citizens can do, as individuals and larger communities, to make reparations.