Grass, to Wheat, to Sand: The Dust Bowl Disaster

March 12–June 29, 2025
The Wolfsonian–FIU @ 1001 Washington Avenue

The Great Plains, a region in the United States stretching from Texas up into Canada, was completely transformed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Wild grasslands were converted to commercial wheat farms before poor land management and drought led to dust storms and disaster in the 1930s. Photographers, documentary filmmakers, and artists documented the ecological crisis that followed, with hundreds of thousands driven from the area to seek work as migrant pickers during the Great Depression. Through photographs, illustrations, film clips, and ephemera, the Florida International University student curators of this installation examine the Dust Bowl and the Roosevelt Administration's efforts to relieve refugees and rehabilitate the land.

This installation was originally presented in The Wolfsonian Library between December 16, 2023, and February 11, 2024.