if this rain can fall
An ethnographic investigation into the depletion of the vast Ogallala Aquifer and the disappearing rivers and creeks of northwestern Kansas, featuring split-screen sound film and other materials collected in the field. Central to the American imagination, this land of promise has metamorphosed into the scarred and thirsty place we find today. This work explores how multi-generational farming families practice farming past the 98th meridian, where it rarely rains enough to support the kind of water-intensive crop growing that many do. By focusing on conservation-minded High Plains farmers, their adaptive practices, and the traces in the landscape, this project attempts to understand if soil and water are understood as more than just resources to be exploited.
Exhibited at Ways of Dwelling: Crisis, Craft, Creativity, the 13th Congress of Société Internationale d´Ethnologie et de Folklore.