Connie Zheng, Chinese
Land of Opportunity, 2022
Land of Opportunity is a mixed media piece emphasizing the environmental hypocrisy of California’s Bay Area and the work of grassroots organizations to combat local issues of environmental injustice. Covered in white text commentary, the largest words riff on America’s moniker as the “Land of Opportunity,” which Zheng renames as “Land of Nuclear Dominance,” or “High Tech.” Though California is known as one of the most environmentally progressive states, the Bay Area has one of the highest concentrations of Superfund sites nationally; 43 of them are represented on the map alongside tar splotches. Zheng’s smaller texts also pays homage to local groups working to fight the effects of settler colonialism and environmental mismanagement. Label by Lia Deasy