Art and alluvial resistance at the Los Angeles River

This project towards a chapter on the history of flood control and ecological art in the Los Angeles River. In Northeast L.A., a soft-bottomed section of the river where the concrete never set suggests an alternative to the US Army Corp of Engineers’ agenda. Here, artists have drawn social resistance metaphors from alluvial resistance. Working with archival flood control planning and policy documents at the Huntington Library, this chapter will also detail various contemporary art interventions that have critiqued colonial river management, and have invited Angelinos to learn Indigenous histories of the floodplain and reimagine the waterway’s future.The chapter will incorporate interviews conducted with artists over the next year and analyze public discourse surrounding their interventions. The grant will also support the creation of an immersive lecture on these topics, using 360-degree camera technology, that will allow students access to river sites from the classroom.