Jodi Connelly Fractured River

April 2021

The Yuba Goldfields near Marysville, California were formed by flooding from hydraulic gold mining in the Sierras from the mid to late 19th century. Waste rock, gravel, mud, and mercury were flushed into the Yuba River, raising it above its natural levee. This caused devastating floods in the Valley that left vast quantities of gravel in its wake. These tailings were subsequently dredged for gold by a series of mining companies until 1970, leaving the land displaced, poisoned, and altered. What remains is a river fractured, flowing through porous uprooted stones and pooling at the bottoms of deep gravelly ravines.

A map of these ravines is transcribed onto the floor and walls of the Garage, which was excavated to generate installation materials. Despite the many resources and weeks of labor dedicated to their creation, the luminous golden walls were destroyed just as the landscape was, in a visceral and calculated gesture. In the end, the Garage will be repaired but the remains of the Yuba Goldfields will stand – a scar upon the earth.

Images by Muzi Li Rowe