EMPARADISE
EMPARADISE, is an antique word describing the process in the early 20th century in which Californian settlers "improved" the landscape by making California look more like their idea of paradise by planting non-native palm trees - a tree that is now inextricably linked with California’s coast. This work is my re-constructed surreal memory of a particular stretch of California’s Pacific Coast Highway I drove throughout my entire life located between Santa Monica and Malibu that was drastically altered by fire in early 2025. An iconic California collision of a seemingly endless road, celebrity-filled dream homes, sea, sunsets and picturesque palm trees between Lakeview Canyon Road and the Santa Monica Pier; it was a place that lived up to the imagination and covetousness of California coastline, but because of the process of “Emparadising” Southern California, history teaches us the scene I identified with was manipulated to look like a place of envy. After the devastating fires irrevocably altered it in early 2025, I started to wonder, am I allowed to grieve something that was never supposed to exist?
I started repurposing my trash - using it as form and evidence of my climate impact and consumption; reshaping and recreating this place to channel my desire, critique, grief and ache. I am curious if we can self-reflect on this moment as more conscious consumers combining imagination, creativity and awareness to this present issue caused by our ambivalent desires.
