Flooding Fields]’ connects students with land, art and community – The State Hornet

From March 5 through April 12 at the Crocker Art Museum, the work of 25 Sacramento State photography seniors are on display in the Student and Community Gallery. Their project, [Placeholder: Flooding Fields], allowed students to explore land, nature and camerawork to fill the gallery and connect with the community.

Students worked with other photographers, government employees, conservationists, land managers, scientists and environmentalists to capture the Yolo Bypass. They were guided by Sac State photography professor Eliza Gregory.

“This project is about the floodplains, where we live in the Sacramento Valley and some specific restoration projects that are happening right now,” Gregory said. “Coalitions of different stakeholders are coming together to restore fishing habitat in particular and allow flooding to happen again in some natural ways while still protecting urban development and agriculture.”

Crocker Art Museum and Sac State photography flyer, promoting the [Placeholder: Flooding Fields] project. The project is on display March 5 to April 12 in the student and community gallery. (Photo courtesy of Eliza Gregory)Senior photography major Beatriz Vargas the project allowed herself and her classmates to understand more about the nature around them through photography.

“A lot of us didn’t know about the area at all, even though we live around it. We learned more about the actual location and about photographing it,” Vargas said. “We took our own approaches on how to experience the land, each with our own individual experience.”

Gregory described Placeholder as a project about relationships with land and art. Through themes and locations in her work and teaching, Gregory said she structures curiosity and investigation.

“It’s about teaching our students in photography how to get out into the world, make photographs about contemporary issues, be curious about the place that they live and be able to act on the curiosity and then make art in response to it,” Gregory said.

Dolores Navarro, a senior photography major, enjoyed the challenge and growth that the project promoted. Many of the students involved have found niches in their work and don’t often take photos outside.

“Through the environment we learn more about ourselves and what photographic work we can do in an outdoor environment,” Navarro said.

The gallery is full of photos of the marsh, plants, animals and people interacting with each other and nature. Each student has their own collection of photos and captions, showing that no two students had the same experience even in the same environment.

Walls of the Crocker Community and Student Gallery adorned with Sacramento State student photos. The images capture plants, animals and surroundings of the Yolo Bypass. (Photo by Susana Grijalva)

John Brennan, a real estate conservationist, photographer and natureself proclaimed enthusiast, helped show the students through 30 miles of the bypass. Brennan highlighted the importance of art in relation to environment and conservation.

“There is a whole history of art and conservation,” Brennan said. “You try to get people to appreciate landscapes, bring people out there and get people interested so they care that it doesn’t get destroyed.”

Gregory and all of her students became a part of this goal through their work. She described her class as “a site for making collaborative artworks that we then bring to a public audience.”

This audience is growing through exhibitions at the Crocker Art Museum and the California Natural Resources Agency’s Sacramento lobby, each open daily through April 12, with [Placeholder: Petrichor] coming soon to SF Camerawork.