A series of three digitally printed textile layers illustrates a recording of layered sounds of the watershed in an art installation on display at UC Irvine’s Langston Institute and Museum of California Art created by multimedia environmental artist and activist Linda Gass, who created the piece to address the changing watershed and its history: from the highly engineered infrastructure of today, and its endangered species and under-served communities, to the front-most layer of what the indigenous watershed may have looked like based on consultation with local tribes.
“I want this artwork to inspire viewers to visit the Santa Ana River and experience the watershed; to feel curious about how we can take a justice-centered approach to restoring and managing the watershed and most importantly, to understand that there are remnants of the indigenous watershed still here and that the indigenous people are still here today,” Gass said.