DAVID ALAN BOYD studio

Black Heart is a visual parable, told through a mosaic of satellite mapping imagery. It tells the story of the heavy price paid by the Diné and Hopi for the profits of agribusiness and real estate developers in arid central Arizona; a story of how the Bureau of Reclamation conspired with state and national politicians to construct one of the largest public works boondoggles in US history to pump 1.5 million acre feet of water per year, 336 miles and 2,900 vertical feet, from Lake Havasu on the Colorado River to population centers of Phoenix and Tucson. Native Peoples paid the price in environmental degradation, loss of land, and diminished health and diminished wellbeing.

In January 2018, Black Heart was featured in a group exhibit, at the Petaluma Arts Center, titled Powers of 10. The Black Heart installation consisted of 38 individual 12" square panels with 8 interspersed interpretive panels containing QR codes that linked to an online companion to the installation.

The exhibit was curated by Llisa Demetrious of the Eames Collection LLC. It featured 8 Bay Area artists and the work of Ray and Charles Eames and was active for 2 months.