Joyous Open Lake investigated a 35-acre lake at di Rosa as a shared resource and refuge for thinking about human and ecological loss in a  change climate and troubled times related to the global pandemic. How can we tell complicated stories about land, people, equity and resilience?

Andrea Saenz Williams, director of Education and Civic Engagement at di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art invited me to develop a public program in 2018. I proposed to collaborate with the lake on site. In 2019 I began researching, interviewing people and photographing the lake. The aim was to bring together communities in Napa through shared histories. ​

Designed as an audio-scape, visitors would listen on their phones as they walked along the lake. Weaving a collective biography, the project sought to examine social and environmental changes and histories reflected in the land, including catastrophic drought and wildfire,  changing migratory patterns of birds, songs and stories of the original indigenous Patwin peoples,  undocumented farm and viticulture laborers and the vivid night dreams of local residents.

​The project featured original music by Berkeley composer Irene Sazer.​

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Unfortunately in 2021 the project came to a halt due to budget issues during COVID.