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Jennifer Little, Associate Professor at University of the Pacific, to present: 100 Years of Dust: Owens Lake and the Los Angeles Aqueduct

Wed, Feb 3, 2016, 2:00 am to Thu, Feb 4, 2016, 2:59 am

New Photography: Lecture Series 2

A series of artist’s talks and presentations at UCSC Art Department – Winter 2016

Jennifer Little, Associate Professor at University of the Pacific, to present:

100 Years of Dust: Owens Lake and the Los Angeles Aqueduct

 

Tuesday, February 2, 2016 6pm-7pm

Digital Arts Research Center, Rm 230

 

Jennifer Little’s project, "100 Years Of Dust: Owens Lake and the Los Angeles Aqueduct," documents the latest chapter in a century of legal battles over water rights and air quality in Owens Valley, CA. Owens Lake lies in Southern California’s Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains, about 200 miles northeast of Los Angeles. This 110-square-mile lake began to dry up in 1913 when the City of Los Angeles diverted the Owens River into the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The water supply allowed Los Angeles to continue its rapid growth but at a tremendous environmental cost. By 1926, Owens Lake was a dry alkali flat, and its dust became the largest source of carcinogenic particulate air pollution in North America. In 1998, the EPA mandated that Los Angeles take steps to minimize the toxic dust pollution. Their dust mitigation program has cost $1.3 billion to date and requires so much water that it may not be sustainable as climate change results in a drier climate for California.

 

Jennifer Little received a B.F.A. in Photography from Washington University in St. Louis and an M.F.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a tenured Associate Professor at University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. Jennifer won the prestigious 2014 Critical Mass Top 50 Award from PhotoLucida. She has presented artist talks at the Society for Photographic Education (SPE) National Conference, University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Stanford University, University of LaVerne, Pitzer College, and San Francisco Art Institute. Her recent exhibitions include GuatePhoto International Photography Festival; Stanford University’s Thomas Welton Stanford Art Gallery; SF Camerawork; Tag Gallery in Bergamot Station Arts Center, Santa Monica, CA; Sol Mednick Gallery at University of the Arts, Philadelphia; Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA; and Photo Center Northwest, Seattle, WA.