SCULPTURE: MIXED MEDIA & INSTALLATIONS
For many years, Judith has been concerned with issues of ocean pollution, waste, fossil fuel and global warming, destruction of rainforests and endangered species as a result of human actions. She has also been active in issues of Indigenous peoples in protecting culture, relationships in nature, lands, and sacred sites. A selection of works presented here in contemporary mixed media and installation formats, are presented in ways to encourage education, discussion, public action, and change regarding these concerns:
Canto for Yemaya
Three installation pieces protesting ocean pollution, beaches, and wetlands.
Telescopic Vision; to Sea or Not to Sea 2023
This recent mixed media work, completed in 2023, responds to the profound advances of modern science, with the recent launching of the Webb, the earlier Hubble telescope, and the Shuttle, as an ongoing search to understand and to explore the outer reaches of our universe. And yet, we can turn our vision back onto our home, Earth, to see what damage we humans are capable of doing by our own actions. Science can also be undertaken to save our home from annihilation due to blind destruction of our lands,forests, polluting our oceans, rivers, rainfall, and air we breathe.
The future of endangered animals and all living beings, depends on our ability to see with open eyes, comprehend the profound immediate dangers, and be willing to implement changes. While using both scientific knowledge and spiritual Indigenous ancient human knowledge and experience, we must find ways to stop destroying our Earth we call our home, for the future generations to come.
THE ANCESTOR BANNERS PROJECT
The Ancestor Banners Project was a year-long educational and protest effort. 100 artworks of Banners were made by students to honor the ancestors of the Indigenous Tongva people. Each “banner” was designed by the student in the the shape of an abstract bird, and was exhibited at Loyola Marymount University, and also at Cal Arts in 2004. Over 100 students participated in three schools over the preceding year; Loyola Univ., Venice High, and CSSSA Summer Arts program at Cal Arts. At that time, over 1500 remains from an ancient cemetery were dug up during the development Playa Vista (Los Angeles), an area also known as the Ballona Wetlands, which is a State designated Ecological Reserve. It is also a registered Sacred Site by the Tongva people.
The students learned about the culture of the Indigenous people of the Greater Los Angeles Basin, specifically the Gabrieleno/Tongva people who have lived in this area for thousands of years. They also learned about the political difficulties and limitations of rights for the Native American people.
