Annie Mitchell installing Hyphae at Griffith Park in Los Angeles
Photo by Tom Clancy
Storm courtesy of climate change
I’ve been finding myself keeping an eye on weather a lot more than normal lately. Los Angeles, like the rest of the world, has been experiencing a lot of weird shit. Fires, monsoon-like rains, and we were chased out of the desert a couple weeks ago by the threat of tiny fiber optic cables by the thousands, blowing in sandy 80mph winds.
Tom and I installed Hyphae at Griffith Park Friday night and were chased off by some of that aforementioned monsoon-like weather. The forecast predicted clear skies until 11:00PM, but by 7:30 we were getting rained on and had to rush the last bit of the sculpture composition so we could GTF-Down-and-Out.
Sensitive gear needed to be protected quickly and the more urgent issue was descending from 1500 feet before the trails became impassible. A single photo was all we had time for. The descent was so steep and loose that it required a few moments of butt-sliding and at one point we were down-climbing an almost vertical rock (dirt?) face with no holds or feet. It’s not the first time I’ve been thankful for good hiking boots. Tom is fearless though. So, I followed without question and it’s only after we were safely on the established path that I had the courage to look beyond my own feet.
On the way back, we talked about other times we felt that same rush of adrenaline and how much richer our lives were for having experienced those moments.
I went to sleep knowing what a gift my time in this universe is.
You can see the Griffith Park install here, but as I mentioned, we only got the one shot. ;)
Annie Mitchell installing Hyphae at Griffith Park in Los Angeles
Photo by Tom Clancy