Kim Stringfellow

Kim Stringfellow is an artist and educator residing in Joshua Tree, California. Her work bridges cultural geography, environmental journalism, public practice and experimental documentary into creative, socially engaged transmedia experiences. She is a 2015 Guggenheim Fellow in Photography and the 2012 recipient of the Theo Westenberger Award for Artistic Excellence. Stringfellow is an Associate Professor in School of Art + Design at San Diego State University. She is the author of two books, "Greetings from the Salton Sea: Folly and Intervention in the Southern California Landscape, 1905–2005" and "Jackrabbit Homestead: Tracing the Small Tract Act in the Southern California Landscape, 1938–2008" both published by the Center for American Places.

Website: www.kimstringfellow.com/

A mushroom cloud from a nuclear detonation.

Article

Artbound

The Deadly Impact of Nuclear Testing on Unsuspecting Desert Communities

The effects of nuclear testing have been devastating. What is more alarming is how the United States government has downplayed its effects and perpetrated a monstrous public health deception, especially to marginalized rural communities.

A ghost grid of the desolate federally-held lands of the Mojave Desert. | Kim Stringfellow

Article

Artbound

The Territorial Urge and the Strange Places It Birthed

Jackrabbit Homesteading and California City are examples of two uniquely bizarre mid-century development patterns found in the Mojave Desert.

Matt Leivas, Sr. singing at the Old Woman Mountains Preserve photographed by Kim Stringfellow in 2019.

Article

Artbound

Bringing Creation Back Together Again: The Salt Songs of the Nuwuvi

The Asi Huviav or Salt Song is a vast interconnected ritual song map describing the sacred geography of the Nuwuvi people (Southern Paiute).

Jim Wharff looking at papers beside the Middle Camp claim | Kim Stringfellow

Article

Artbound

Inside the World of Recreational Miners

On a smaller scale, recreational prospecting is thriving throughout the West — especially in its desert regions.

An abandoned mine in Goldfield, Nevada. | Kim Stringfellow.

Article

Artbound

All That Glitters: Gold Mining's Environmental Effects in the Mojave

A historical gold boom has resulted in thousands of abandoned mines spread across the Mojave desert that have grave environmental repercussions.

Pacific Rocket Society testing rockets in the Mojave Desert in 1951. | USC Digital Library.

Article

Mojave's Rocketeers

Rocket launching has been going strong in the Mojave since the early '40s by hobbyists of all ages."Peace, Love and Rockets" brings them all together in one of the biggest meet-ups of recreational amateur rockets in the world.

The Yellow Aster Mine in Randsburg, CA | Kim Stringfellow. January 2019

Article

Artbound

Cities of Gold: The Mojave Desert's Boom and Busts

Exploration of the Mojave Desert was directly driven by the desire to locate gold. These hell-bent gold seekers would bring about enduring cultural transformations and irreversible environmental legacies within California and other western states.

Dan Kreigh, a senior structural engineer at Scaled Composites, displays his scale model of SpaceShipOne. | Daniel Housman

Article

Artbound

Making Astronauts in Mojave

Mojave, CA (pop. 4,238) has been the center of civilian-led, commercial space travel since 2004. Astronautics companies are now reaching into space in their effort to provide commercial spaceflight to those who can afford it.

Above: The entrance to the El Pakiva Cavern at Providence Mountains State Recreation Area. | Photo: Kim Stringfellow

Article

Artbound

Ida and Jack Mitchell: Guardians of the Providence Mountains

Edwin Corle, a popular mid-century American author fantastically embellishes Jack Mitchell’s first descent into Cave of the Winding Stair in this suspenseful narrative intertwining references to modernist painter Paul Klee, female anatomy and space-time.

The Integratron, Landers, CA. | Kim Stringfellow

Article

Artbound

How the Extraterrestrial Inspired Some of the Mojave's Great Landmarks

Alien sightings and contacts have inspired the continuing allure of the Mojave Desert's great landmarks: Giant Rock and Integratron.

Día de los Muertos

Fantastic, Spooktastic L.A.

KCET Cinema Series

Día de los Muertos

Fantastic, Spooktastic L.A.

KCET Cinema Series

Kim Stringfellow