January 28 through February 18, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 28, 6-9 pm
Joshua trees are the sentinels of the Mojave, standing like scarecrows. But now, they’re more like storm crows, waving their arms to warn of impending doom, for us and for them. And in the new show, Joshua at the Bermudez Projects gallery in Northeast Los Angeles, photographer Joshua Patterson gives his namesakes a voice.
Patterson is one of the gallery’s fan favorites, because he brings us armchair explorers along on his arduous treks into some of Southern California’s most inaccessible places. This time, in a series of stunning photographs, he introduces us to his constant companions in the High Desert, the Joshua tree.
From the sun-kissed to the snow-capped, these trees are presented in a thoughtful, non-traditional manner.
The movies have often made these yuccas variants into weird aliens, but says Patterson, “I don’t think I’ve ever been unnerved by the trees themselves. I’ve been stabbed by them numerous times, however. The sound of the wind in them can be a bit eerie at times but just like you get used to all the little noises your house makes over time, the same applies to the desert. The longer you’re out there, the more those sounds provide comfort and a sense of belonging.”
With temps dipping to 15, Patterson loaded up his 4×4, checked his water, food, Garmin, and SD cards, and headed to the highest elevations of the High Desert to capture ten stunning images of what may prove to be – in just a few decades – the last stands of Joshua trees.
“Like many desert species,” says Patterson, “Joshua Trees rely on ideal conditions to flourish,” including spring rains and a winter freeze. But “as climate change advances and global temperatures creep up, those essential freezes are becoming less common, imperiling trees growing in lowland regions. The colder, high desert locations I frequent could become some of the last holdout populations if climate trends continue unabated.”
Joshua Tree National Park, where most of us see the icons, could lose all namesake trees by the end of this century. Unless we do something about climate change. As if.
Is this exhibit, Joshua, Josh’s effort to get the world to take climate change seriously? Not really. “I guess you could say I exist in a state of ambivalence – a braid made of joy and love and grief, hopelessly intertwined, and the Joshua tree is a symbol of how enduring and how fragile our natural world is.”