Desert X 2021, which explores the desert as both a place and an idea.
Despite the relatively short hike from the parking lot up to Saudi Arabian artist Zarah Alghamdi s Desert X 2021 installation, What Lies Behind the Walls
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it still felt like a pilgrimage of sorts. The dark, monolithic wall of textured material loomed in the distance a mecca to the migratory experience of memory from one desert to another.
Mercifully, midday temperatures in Desert Hot Springs were not yet in the full force of summer, so nothing more than a light sweat was kicked up, along with some inevitable dirt. It was Sunday, and there was a reasonable smattering of visitors taking the journey with me. Walking silently, with the wall in my line of vision, I overheard genial conversations of people visiting from New York, bringing with them their own cache of memory and experience with which to interpret this work.