SOIL PELLET MOSAICS, REMEDIATING SCULPTURES, VIDEO PROJECTION, PROSPERING BACKYARDS MEMORABILIA

Commissioned works for Sinks: places we call home. PST Art x Science Collide.

Boiling Rocks is a series of works whose name is derived from the origins of the mineral zeolite (Zeo Boiling Rocks is a series of works whose name is derived from the meaning of the mineral zeolite (Zeo “boiling,” lithos “stone”), which is a material used to remediate soil in a community science project called Prospering backyards (Pb). This project emerged from the research phase that the artist Maru García led for the exhibition Sinks: Places We Call Home in collaboration with the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles (NHMLA), Self Help Graphics, community members, and volunteers.

Pb addresses the severe case of lead contamination in the soil caused by Exide Technologies in areas of South East and East Los Angeles. In addition to community science research with zeolites, Pb teaches the community about soil health through a series of “Soil Time” workshops that collaborate with organizations working on soil health. Scholar Frida Cano writes about this work, “Pb operates under the principles of Indigenous worldviews by regarding the Earth as sacred (rather than an inexhaustible resource or a repository for waste). Human beings are not viewed as the protagonists of history and instead acknowledge their belonging to an interconnected and balanced system that prospers in community. Although it uses the language of Western science, Pb manages to build a bridge through art connecting the generative life force found in every living being.”