Art as Advocacy: Protecting the US-Mexico Border Environment in Amanda Keller Konya’s “Specimens”

Abstract

Amanda Keller-Konya's multilayered photographic image construction in "Specimens" from North America's Most Polluted River" helps the viewer perceive the magnitude of the damage sustained by US-Mexico's border area residents in California's Imperial Valley and the effort necessary to clean the area's New River. The river originates in Mexicali city, capital of Baja California, northwestern Mexico, crosses the border, flows north through California's Imperial Valley, and empties into the Salton Sea, the state's largest and most contaminated lake. A sustainable environment is crucial to the health of the valley's residents and farms that supply most of the nation's winter produce. Recovery of the area's ecosystem requires solving the impact of agricultural runoff and toxic dust as less water flows into the Salton Sea, a body of water vital for the wellbeing of Southern Californians, the fish, and the migratory birds that depend on it for survival.