Christopher Landis

April 5-28, 2001

In 1990, photographer and historian, Christopher Landis began taking pictures at the Salton Sea. What emerged is a poetic representation of the Sea and its surrounding landscape. Probably no other local environmental issue has received as much publicity and attention as has California’s largest inland body of water, the Salton Sea. At one time heralded as “California’s New Mediterranean,” the Sea today is viewed by many as a sick ecosystem desperately in need of being saved.

Landis’ photographs document the sublime beauty of the region. The images also reveal the damage done to past and present environments by decades of rising salinity, heavy nutrient loading, and reoccurring floods. His photos capture a sense of the decades-old dreams at an important and sometimes forgotten Western place.