Industrial Frequency

Chelsea Mosher
"Industrial Frequency" (2022)
Gelatin silver print
Courtesy the artist

Artist statement:
The ancient Joshua trees (known as sovarampi to the Southern Paiute, humwichawa to the Cahuilla, and umpu to the Western Shoshone) are a defining landscape feature in the proposed monument area. A single Joshua tree has been chosen as a symbol to represent the greater ecosystem that is threatened by a proposed large-scale global wind energy project. Industrial "green" energy projects will continue to target this region, posing a significant threat to habitat, biodiversity, and sacred Indigenous sites. Noise and vibration from skyscraper high wind turbines directly threaten the Mojave Desert Tortoise, federally protected under the Endangered Species Act. We must protect this landscape and decentralize the energy grid.