To Those Who Create the Future
Davey Whitcraft
Exhibition: February 1 to March 29, 2025
Artist Reception: Saturday, March 1, from 5-7pm
Themes + Projects
1275 Minnesota Street, Suite 205
San Francisco, CA
Artist Statement: To Those Who Create the Future investigates the impact of lithium mining, a key material in the clean energy debate. This includes economies based on extraction, the ongoing impact of colonialism, the role of Silicon Valley, and the spread of politicized ideas online.
The project was filmed during 2024 on location in the world’s largest lithium mine in Chile’s Atacama Desert, the otherworldly, lithium-rich Salton Sea in California, and oil fields across the Mojave desert.
The large color field works combine the fascinating colors from landscapes changed by mining. Whitcraft uses a lens-based process that affects the image in a similar way that lithium mining changes the earth’s surface. The video and landscape photographs employ modified drone and cinema cameras sensitive to light beyond human perception.
Whitcraft's art reflects lithium mining's impact on the earth—distorting landscapes, mirroring the land's physical alteration from lithium extraction, and visually recording the environmental impact—prompting reflection on human activity and nature.
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Image Credit: "Mina de Litio II," Davey Whitcraft, 2025.