The Art of Reparation

SPI’s Tina Calderon is quoted in this article by Steffie Nelson about Lauren Bon and The Metabolic Studio: “Bending the River” art gallery on view at Pitzer Art Galleries until December 16, 2022.

Published in Red Canary Magazine
October 11, 2022

Inside the small, ground-floor gallery, the air is moist and fragrant with dirt and hanging bundles of sagebrush, amaranth, yerba mansa and ephedra. One wall is lined with topographic maps; against another, teardrop-shaped beakers steadily drip water solutions into contaminated soil, filtering out lead, arsenic and other toxins through ceramic pipes. Around a corner, a mound of charred wood sourced from the wreckage of a Los Angeles forest fire has been covered with soil and seeds, and inoculated with oyster mushrooms that are aiding the decomposition process. Along the floor, a silver, circuit grid pattern snakes across the gallery, leading to a photographic collage that was shot over six weeks, depicting the fitting of 300 feet of clay pipe into the bed of the Los Angeles River.