16" x 22.5"

“Stack, 1944” is inspired by the stack freeway interchange (101 x 110) located in the heart of Los Angeles. This first-of-its-kind engineering marvel replaced LA’s original Chinatown, displacing 4,000 people in the process. The site is adjacent to the home of El Aliso, a sprawling sycamore that served as a gathering place for the Tongva community. This tree survived 400 years of flood, agricultural development and colonization, but was unable to survive the expansion plans of the land’s new owner in 1892. 

The work is created through contrasting processes of fluid pours and precise extraction. Organic movement and texture references the pre-settlement land and free-flowing water now cut and channelized by lines of industry. While precise, the lines and systems bleed into one another, signaling our interdependence and the urgency of finding balance in our coexistence. The piece was printed by master lithographer Ed Hamilton at Hamilton Press. 

”Stack, 1944” presents multiple ways of seeing. One is the rise of a city out of climate crisis, the other is a city sinking into it. The reality of the situation is now in our hands.