An economy can be defined as the “efficient use of material resources.” The works in “Economies” probe how social inequities are embedded in seemingly innocuous market forces and social exchanges: What are the human costs? Whose lives matter?
Justin Serulneck analyzes the economies and landscapes of three areas in Southern California—sites in Ventura County devastated by the 2017 Thomas Fire, planned housing tracts in arid Tejon Ranch, and proposed luxury developments in Los Angeles—to challenge the motives behind large-scale suburban development in a fire-prone region and to emphasize the correlation between rising real estate prices and an increase in the number of deaths of people experiencing homelessness. Alexandre Dorriz’s work weaves together art patronage, agribusiness, US-Iran trade relations, and his family’s history (as part of the Iranian diaspora). Most striking is Untitled Mirage 2, or an Exhibitionary Complex (The Lynda and Stewart Resnick Cultural Center), 2017–19, a video of the artist performing fieldwork on pomegranate and pistachio farms in the Central Valley. Founders of the company POM Wonderful, the Resnicks are among the most powerful art collectors and donors in Los Angeles, and their farms reportedly outpace the city in water consumption. (Reagan banned Iranian exports of the ruby fruit during the 1980s, around the time the Resnicks began to purchase farmland.)
Patrisse Cullors deals with the history of slavery as it connects to the ongoing problems of the mass incarceration and economic disenfranchisement of African Americans. On view are materials and documentation related to her performance Respite, Reprieve, and Healing: An Evening of Cleansing, 2019. The artist and others are shown washing their hair, bathing, and performing tender gestures of care. The video ends with a stirring reminder that the struggles against systemic inequality are not over: “We have come so far, so far to go.”
