KITH & KIN

In 2021, I was lucky to visit the Protection Camp set up by activists in Thacker Pass, Nevada. This high desert sagebrush steppe ecosystem was, at the time, largely undeveloped, save for the agricultural rangeland. It was full of specially adapted life. In the few days camping, I experienced the extreme heat and intense sun, the high winds and dust storms, cold nights and a frigid rainstorm, all of which gave me great respect for those who live in such harsh conditions. There is a delicacy and art in their thriving, which inspired my own drawings.

 

Much of what you see, hear, smell, and read in this space, and the world beyond, has been brought to you via rare, soft alkali metal. We use it to keep time, to travel, to preserve food, to work, to perpetrate wars, to socialize, and even to think. Silvery white, toxic except in small doses, atomic number 3, lithium is not found in nature in isolation. Instead, it is contained within most igneous rock and the waters of mineral springs. The Thacker Pass Lithium Mine is, for instance, located in the McDermitt Caldera of Nevada. This caldera, formed roughly 19 million years ago, straddles the Nevada and Oregon border. While mining operations are currently underway across the state line in Nevada, new mining exploration is now occurring within Oregon. 

 

During this era of intensifying climate change, we have had no choice but to scramble for new, carbon neutral energy solutions that will sustain our current lifestyles. On a national security level, it is imperative that the United States find the resources for this change internally. A transition away from fossil fuels is, on the surface, a noble and necessary effort. But digging a little deeper, one would find the highly extractive processes required to obtain lithium, a key element for this transition, is not as “clean” as is advertised. 

 

17,000 acre operation

5,000 acre open pit

1.7 billion gallons of water 

Thousands of tons of sulfuric acid

Diesel guzzling machines

 

This show acts as a point of conversation. This space, a community gathering place and an acknowledgment of Peehee Mu’huh, a culturally important Paiute Shoshone massacre site. Here we can hold a vigil for the peoples, flora, and fauna impacted by what will be the largest lithium mine in North America. 

 

My portraits of residents of Peehee Mu’huh evolved from more traditional scientific illustrations, to become more decorated, exploratory, and colorful. They aim to be a celebration of life, a meditation on unity and fragmentation, and a showcase for the extraordinary importance and power of these beings in the face of a rapidly  developing and changing world.  

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Listen to the audio soundscape and interview with Protect Thacker Pass activist Max Wilbert:

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