Littoral Daemon I, 2014

Littoral Daemon I is based on imagery of shoreline debris and flotsam—of human and non-human origin—washed up along the mudflats of San Francisco Bay in Richmond, CA. Mud from these mudflats was used as pigment for the work. The Littoral Daemon series imagines what new gods might emerge from the debris of our own creation.

The Richmond Bay shoreline is comprised of a deeply entangled matrix of human generated-trash, and plant-, animal- and mineral-generated materials. Official signage designates the area both as a “natural resource protection area” with its rich ecosystem, and as a “hazardous materials area” due to past industrial and chemical waste dumping, and mercury deposits from the gold mining era. The mud contains organic matter from decomposing plants, animals, and rocks, supporting a thriving diversity of species; it also contains waste from dumping, historical gold mining, and local industry, including mercury, copper, nickel, pesticides, PCBs, dioxins, cyanide, selenium and a stew of pharmaceuticals. The mud is a both and—both a foundation for a rich habitat, and a toxic testament to the bay’s human history. In this work, the mud performs as a literal matrix of the area’s histories, and metaphorically as mythic prime material—its malleability latent with infinite futures.

Littoral Daemon I is the first work in a series, including Littoral Daemon II and Littoral Daemon III.