Cascading California: Kara Miller

I find this collection and collage very interesting for this primary reason: It takes charts, graphs, stat's, and other "classic" informatics, and plays with them in such a way as to both utilize as well as question the information therein. At first it seems like a collection of information in visual formats, but it is a toppling array of chaos and structural violence. Indeed, without the text, it is more difficult to plug in the role of the dominos, but the array of info in and of itself creates a dizzying, confusing, and unsettling affect, which is a critical point to make as publics try and sift through policy, law, facts, and protocol at the same time as sifting through rubble. Publics are tasked with understanding health risks at the same time as accepting the fact that our very own behavior contributes to these crises. How might the "noise" of information be more intense? Could the image have some fuzzy pieces or information side-by-side that contradicts one another? If there a way of showing static if that is an element that you wish to highlight?This shifting squares in the collage, (a nod to De Stijl, as you mention), are likened to channels, websites, and flashes/ screens of information, which may or may not be congruent. There is an imbalance here, and I think that is successful. It feels ethnographically dense is its considerations of health and air and statistics are paired with personal images and geo-spatial considerations. That being said, the cascades (or flows), of consideration are not totally clear. The image of the dominos certainly suggests there being a failing, falling, connective element here, but it feels like a mere suggestion.Could you consider something like transposing the images (and more maybe) on a set of dominos to show how the pieces sprawl out and knock down? Should this be a moving image or gif? How could you further "queer" (or change or question) the notion of charts and graphs, which have so often been shoved in the faces of people who need more tangible projects, results, and efforts?How else could the tremendous power and fear of fire and catastrophe be illustrated? Should these graphs themselves burn up or become water-logged? The image communicates so much and has an appropriately critical tone. How might the dominos (the movement; the collapse; the tumbling down) be more central or take on more action?As an aside, I would personally like to see something more of the flesh here. We have photos that have land/ city/ soil/ infrastructure/ sky/ water, and the smaller images with the kid using an inhaler and a kid receiving emergency treatment. I think that the combination of the images that portray human flesh paired with images of hazy skies and mudslides drive the point home. Do we need an image of a lung or some other bio-based information? Just a thought.