Rift / Unearthing the Divide Along the San Andreas Fault (2022 - 2025)

The San Andreas Fault cuts an 800-mile path through California, marking a powerful natural boundary where two tectonic plates grind past one another in opposing directions. In my project Rift, I use this geologic tension as a metaphor for the polarization and tribalism shaping contemporary society. The photographs, made directly along the seismically active fault line, visualize these ideological divides. The fault’s ever-present threat of earthquakes mirrors the fragility of our social fabric. Like the fault itself, these tensions often lie hidden beneath the surface—invisible to the casual observer, yet deeply embedded in our lives.

Using an infrared camera to capture light beyond the visible spectrum, I reveal alternative perspectives that exist beyond our own viewpoints. The resulting otherworldly images, rendered in luminous gold tones, evoke California’s paradoxical identity as the Golden State: a place where the promise of prosperity coexists with deep fractures, both in the land and in the culture.

With a background in geology and a lifetime spent living within five miles of the fault, I have an intimate connection to this landscape. Rift moves beyond deciphering geologic history; it is a visual meditation on how the land and built environment can mirror our societal rifts, and on how beauty, tension, and complexity so often coexist within the same terrain.