Christine Huhn

My work seeks to inform the public of the importance of environmental preservation through photography. I am drawn to the ephemeral nature of the landscape and the physicality of seeing time. Themes throughout my work are time (geologic and rapid), memory, and human impact/interaction with place. My work is research informed, combining my background in photography and historic preservation to capture the transient landscape.

In 2019, I was selected as an artist in residence at Mojave National Preserve. I was inspired to capture its never ending space, solitude, and visual variations. Mojave National Preserve is one of the most unique places in the National Park System, not just for its vast and diverse terrain, but it is also a place that has been continually used by humans for centuries.

Not commonly known, the largest and densest Joshua tree forest in the world is located in Mojave National Preserve. This is one of the reasons that the work I made during my time in the Mojave focused on creating black and white photographic portraits of the Joshua trees. In August 2020, a wildfire overcame the Joshua tree forest, burning and destroying 43,273 acres, about 25% of the Joshua trees. This deeply impacted both natural and cultural resources within the park. Invasive desert species are thriving, spreading, and hoarding resources from native plants. As temperatures rise due to climate change, these widespread dry grasses become a fuel load, creating a perfect environment for wildfires to spread rapidly. The site I photographed and documented in March 2019 no longer exists.

The fragility of the Joshua tree extends throughout the Mojave Desert into Joshua Tree National Park. While it is a highly visited area, many of Joshua Tree’s visitors are unaware of the effects from climate change. Joshua trees are the most vulnerable. In November 2023, I was extremely fortunate to spend the month as a Kipaipai artist in residence at the Joshua Tree Center for Photographics Arts, where I had unlimited access to the park. Every morning I traveled into the park before sunrise when the experience was solitary and quiet. I focused my work on the Joshua trees within and near the Memorial Fire site. Most park visitors passed me and the area by on their way to Skull Rock, Hall of Horrors, and Hidden Valley. I have always been most interested in visiting and photographing lesser known locations and highlighting underrepresented communities and histories.

Both human and natural forces are changing the environment. Significant natural and cultural histories are told through the American landscape and are at high risk of being lost forever. Through returning trips to Mojave National Preserve and Joshua Tree National Park, I continue to capture time within the fragile desert landscape, documenting the changes to the Joshua trees within these two national protected sites.