City of Hope

Five years ago, Phoenix homes were worth a mint. Now you can score a three-bedroom pad for $60K – if you don’t mind that the previous owners hammered holes in the walls and pissed on the carpet as a pre-foreclosure “screw you.” Our economic situation looks bleak, but according to Arizona State University art professor Mark Klett, there’s still hope. Klett and his students spent three years photographing Phoenix’s human and animal inhabitants for the “Phoenix Transect” exhibit. “The history of Phoenix from boom to bust and back again is a cycle that is still very much evident,” says Klett. The photos, depicting everything from the light rail to riparian habitats found in the dry Salt River bed, show evidence that all animals (including man) can survive through the toughest times.
Mon., Oct. 26, 7 p.m., 2009