Following the Los Angeles River from source to sea, A Possible River is a portrait of Southern California’s most poignant symbol of human efforts to dominate the natural environment in the pursuit of development.

By 1960, after decades of devastating floods, the 51-mile-long waterway was channelized and transformed into the concrete scar that winds its way across the city. Surprisingly few Angelenos realize that the massive ditch they see from the highway is an actual river, or that there are stretches river where plants and animals thrive.

A major river revitalization plan now in the works hopes to bring back some of the lost ecosystems and encourage public use. But many people fear that property development will increase once the river project is completed.

In this project, I am pondering nature in one of the most congested places in the world and exploring the inherent need for the wild in our lives, despite our often unsuccessful efforts to tame it.

This is a meditation on the resiliency of the natural world and of the greater river that might be possible — if we can learn from the mistakes of the not-too-distant past.

A Possible River was published in Emergence Magazine, Summer, 2018

A Possible River

Featuring: Roberto “Bear” Guerra

Locations

View Location Details Annenberg Space for Photography

Century Park,
2000 Avenue of the Stars Los Angeles,
CA 90067

Location open 24 hours

• #California
• #City Life
• #Los Angeles
• #Water

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