Monuments of Irwindale, 2022
3D data from Google Maps, concrete, cinderblocks
This work documents the inactive quarries in Irwindale, CA––a suburban mining town 20 miles east of Los Angeles that supplies the raw material for roads, building construction, and municipal infrastructure. Responsible for sourcing the aggregate that transformed Los Angeles into an urban megalopolis in the 1950’s, the open-pit mines are now monuments of the scars left on the natural environment while constructing the built environment. Through a series of cement castings extracted from 3D data in Google Maps, this work reveals the forces––often rendered invisible in its ubiquity––that shape the infrastructural city.