Sorrow and Despair marks the land with poetically driven patterns on the lake bed of Owens Lake inspired by the Paiutes’ resources of the past. These patterns pay homage to the Paiutes, for their land was un-rightfully
taken from them. This memorializing landscape not only evokes the sorrow and despair of the natives, but also functions to mitigate the dust problems of the lake. Within the mosaic of the patterns, the dust mitigation controls also retain the habitat and flyway for the migratory birds through hybridization of berms and shallow flooding. The marks are made with heavy equipment such as bulldozers, trenchers, and excavators which take inputs from wind direction, clay content, and existing salinity levels. Sorrow and Despair can only be experienced from the air, and it reflects a mood rather than a narrative that expresses a social concern.
