Mercedes Dorame—Deliquescence: Sites of Transformation

Deliquescence is what happens when a substance pulls so much moisture from the air that it dissolves into a new solution. Mercedes Dorame, a Tongva artist from Los Angeles, took the word for a commission about Southern California's freshwater springs, sites of deep history where Indigenous peoples gathered.

You find it in the Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art, in the same galleries as Sandy Rodriguez's Book 13. Dorame's large photographs hang with historical images of regional springs from the Huntington's archives, alongside painting, sculpture and ceramics, and a soundscape of Tongva poetry. She gathered the material as the Huntington's 2023 to 2024 artist-in-residence, working through the collections and the grounds' springs and water seeps. Her interest, she says, is "the parallel timelines" between water still underground and the early images of Southern California in the archive.

It stays until March 2029. Entry is included with general admission ($29 Monday to Thursday, $34 at weekends), reservations are required Friday to Sunday, and the Huntington is closed on Tuesdays.