Water: A Thirsty Exhibit

One of the great parts about Los Angeles is that there is never a shortage of places to express artistic freedom. The Silverlake/Echo Park area alone could take months of observation to fully explore the tiny venues, artists, and shops available to view creativity in action. However, one of the greater locations in the city for the professional photography realm is a complex known as the Annenberg Space for Photography in Century City. Headed by the Annenberg Foundation, the Space has rotating exhibits that are changed out semi-annually, in addition to tons of seminars and special events related to the photography field. Even the building design itself is based on the inner workings of a camera. In short: it's a photographer lover's dream.

Today, I had to opportunity to check out the Space while my mom was in town for a visit. This particular display was National Geographic's Water: Our Thirsty World, an exhibit I had been excited about ever since flyers first began appearing on telephone poles throughout the city. We arrived and spent the next hour wandering the halls.

The displays were incredible, which was no less than to be expected. The Space was somewhat smaller than I had imagined, but the exhibit was well-distributed with tons to see. Not only were the prints themselves lovely, but they had touch-screen tables, a reading room, guestbooks, and an absolutely amazing theater rolling through interviews and displays regarding the special edition of the magazine released this month. Overall, I enjoyed the trip and look forward to coming back.

However, the special program did have one downside, which was portraying the realities of the water crisis we are quickly beginning to face. The brilliant, dazzling blues and greens captured in nearly every photograph were contrasted sharply with the grim message they relayed. Whether it was the image of an African woman shoveling meager rations of dirty water into a pan or dry, rusted landscapes of what remains of Owens Lake, California, the alert was clear.

With the world being caught up in the global warming craze and the subsequent flooding that is warned, we often forget that we have such little water readily able for us to consume. Only 1% of all the water in the world can be used for human use at the moment, and in many countries its supply is vastly smaller than the demand. It will only be a matter of time before the deadline has passed on preserving what is available.

I highly recommend roaming through the Space firsthand if you make it to LA. While you're at it, pick up a copy of National Geographic's special "Water" issue. Even for those who aren't photography fans, it may open a whole new perspective about our world.


Rushing Waves by =serphius on deviantART