Richard Misrach: Salton Sea

Misrach’s Desert Canto III: The Flood (1983-85) focuses on the Salton Sea, a desert lake created in the 1900s by an overflow of the Colorado River, and since then sustained by agricultural irrigation runoff. Stocked with fish in the 1950s to promote tourism, by the 1980s it became highly saline with toxic algae blooms and wildlife die-offs.

Color photograph of a body of water with red light on a pole reflected in the water framed in a dark wood
Color photograph of debris amongst a sea in the desert with a heap of dead fish a washed on the shore
Color photograph of telephone poles, decrepit trailer homes, and vehicles partly submerged in still water
Color photograph of a submerged lamppost with a small bird perched on top
Color photograph of a large body of water with several wooden stakes peeking above the water on an overcast day
Color photograph of an abandoned building with abandoned cars and rowboats slightly submerged in water with mountain range on horizon
Color photograph of a flooded abandoned garage with a distressed rowboat
Color photograph of a submerged street with a street sign in the center and mountain range on the horizon
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