Sacrifice Zone: Los Angeles
An Immersive Docu-Narrative Exhibit

ADMISSION:
Admission is free. No reservations required.

COVID-19 Protocols: Although masks are not required, per the LA County Department of Public Health, it is strongly recommended that attendees wear masks for their own protection and the protection of others.

DESCRIPTION:
While often spoken about through calculations and scientific jargon, environmental racism is, like all forms of systemic violence, felt intimately within neighborhoods and even within the sacred space of the home. As radical feminist scholars teach us, the personal is political. Drawing upon this truism, the Spring 2022 iteration of Sacrifice Zone: Los Angeles invokes the home as an immersive experience through which participants can explore the injustice of systemic environmental neglect while forging new paths to a cleaner, more liberated future.

Utilizing multimedia-enriched documentary theatre and film storytelling tools and techniques, the exhibit tackles climate change from the perspective of “sacrifice zones”—the places in our city that have been harmed by ongoing problems such as oil drilling and industrial toxins. Sacrifice Zone: Los Angeles  tells the stories of individuals and families who have been sidelined by political and corporate interests and highlights the damaging effects of decades of industrial pollution on South Los Angeles and in an effort to affect change within local communities and beyond.

Sacrifice Zone: Los Angeles is a collaborative environmental justice project created by a team of faculty and students from USC along with members of the local environmental justice community, including advocates from Esperanza Community Housing and their “People Not Pozos” campaign, and funded by grants from USC Arts in Action and the Arkay Foundation. Developed by the students in USC's Media Arts + Practice course, this immersive experience is the second in a series of artistic prototypes that will culminate in a final, fully realized production in Spring 2023.

Presented by Arts in Action, part of USC Visions and Voices: The Arts and Humanities Initiative. Organized by Paula Cizmar (Dramatic Arts) and Michael Bodie (Cinematic Arts) in partnership with People Not Pozos.