Tamarisk and Clam Auto-Fossilization Memorial
The great Bathtub Ring of the sinking Lake Mead is a mineralized and neo-fossilized landscape of young ruins caused by the diminishing reservoir. This monument to abandoned futures provides a conceptual backdrop for Tamarisk and Clam Auto-Fossilization Memorial. The bronze cast portion uses traditional monument materiality to retain archival documentation of plant and animal remains that mark the ground of lands once long underwater. “Auto-fossilization” is my term to describe the intentional seeking of deep change through the release of a failed past- making room for future transformation, inspired by geologic change. Engaging with disturbed landscapes and discarded materials, I relate this to queer abandonment and the resulting intuition to seek love and renewal in ruin.
