And the Desert Shows Through
Mark Ruwedel photographs the solitary, non-native trees at the edge between greater urban areas and the Californian desert.
Known for his photographs of landscapes in the west of the United States, in the series “Inland: Haunted by the Desert” Mark Ruwedel focuses on the zone known as the “Inland Empire”, the area between the Californian coast and the harsh desert. At the edges of cities like LA, a largely treeless area before colonization, he photographs the trees imported by the Europeans, which are now disappearing as the city expands further.
Eucalyptus, palm and citrus, imported trees that now characterize the Californian landscape, are the protagonists of a body of work that sees them as evidence and witnesses of human history and its interventions on the wild landscape. Mark Ruwedel also tracks the aftermath of fires frequently ravaging the area. As he states: “Burnt trees are the result of both naturally recurring phenomena and human activities. They also offer a hint of a possible future.”
The exhibition “Inland: Haunted by the Desert” by Mark Ruwedel is on view at
Large Glass until July 9.
