The 40 Million Bodies In Lake Mead: What finding bodies in Lake Mead means for the future
Video still from Draining the Colorado by Alexander Heilner.
By Sapira Cheuk
Lake Mead is a reservoir fed by the Colorado River, which currently provides water for 40 million people. The stories about bodies that were discovered this year as the lake’s water level receded are salacious and immediate; however, these clickbait headlines are short-term distractions that lead our attention away from the more serious issue of the drought, with its long-term consequences for the 40 million people who depend on the river. By contrast, the pieces in the current Nevada Humanities Exhibition Series: Along the Colorado offer understandings of the river from different perspectives and temporalities.
Using aerial photography, Alexander Heliner captures the river at this moment. The images show a drastic decline of the river and the new development the river feeds into. As the crimes of the past reveal themselves, the history of the river is also being examined due to this mega drought. Tom Minckley and Patrick Kikut followed John Wesley Powell’s footsteps and rafted down the Colorado River for 70 days. While on the river they collected scientific samples and produced the watercolors shown in the exhibition. Similarly, Jen Urso mapped 1,500 years of water use in the Phoenix, Arizona, area. Artists are revisiting and re-examining the history of our relations with water - whether in the form of consumption or water politics. Not only does the art document and reconsider issues around the river, but artists such as Sean Russell, Marc Wise, Jess Benjamin, and Michael B. Mason also recontextualize what it means to live in a water-scarce space.
While all of these artists offer deep and nuanced considerations of the river and its role in our lives, the most personal and historically invested stories come from John Fleck and Tick Segerblom. Both their fathers were artists who were interested in the Colorado River, and their art had a profound impact on the next generation’s work, eventually leading their sons to work in the policy and politics of water. Instead of clickbait, I hope this collection of work will move viewers into relating and thinking about the river in more lasting and meaningful ways.
You can find out more about the stories and the artwork mentioned in the article here.
The latest installment of the Nevada Humanities Exhibition Series, Along the Colorado, curated by Sapira Cheuk, is on display at the Nevada Humanities Program Gallery through September 28, 2022, and is always viewable online.
Original artwork by Jess Benjamin, A Paradox of Value, Ceramic, Corn, Grass, Dirt.
Original artwork by Michael B. Mason, Powell's Prophecy No.9 - Uncertainty, Mixed Media on Canvas.
Original Artwork by Patrick Kikut, Watercolors of the Colorado: Hoover Dam, Watercolor.
Photo courtesy of Sapira Cheuk.
Sapira Cheuk is a longtime public servant, who teaches occasionally at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and also serves as the Art Editor for the museum of americana. She received her BA at the University of California, Riverside and MFA from California State University, San Bernardino.