California Dystopia: Understanding Climate Change and Social Collapse through Science Fiction

Doheny Memorial Library (DML) 3550 Trousdale Parkway,, Los Angeles, CA

In the fall of 2020, when wildfires turned the once-blue skies of California into a glowing orange hellscape—all amid a viral pandemic marked by severe racial and social disparities and protests over police violence against communities of color—some of the darkest fiction about California’s future seemed especially prescient. Moderated by Los Angeles Times culture columnist

LaToya Ruby Frazier: The Last Cruze

California African American Museum

Artist LaToya Ruby Frazier works in photography, video, and performance to build visual archives that address industrialization, Rust Belt revitalization, environmental justice, healthcare inequity, family, and community history. Frazier’s work is exhibited widely in the United States and internationally, and she is currently an assistant professor of photography at the School of the Art Institute