The work began by visiting Sutter’s Mill – the site of the first discovery of gold in California in 1848. The research base expanded to include a broader meditation on the unique nature of wealth that has come from California as well as the extraordinary natural beauty that comprises its landscape. While video footage was taken and a series of paintings were made, the most successful pieces to come from this investigation were this series of quite straightforward photo collages. Through cutting various images together, I explore the relationship between “natural” and “man-made value” through an encounter with two sites – one marking the discovery of gold by James Marshall and John Sutter in 1848 in the American River in Coloma, California and the other the growth of the shipping industry and transpacific trade during the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century – and the extraordinarily luxurious homes that resulted. The resulting series of archival prints asks us to consider the nature of beauty and how we experience and value both nature and culture.