Wildfires in Utah Art, Homes and Lands

Curated by Alexandra Karl, Words by Terry Tempest Williams
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EXHIBITION ON VIEW: JAN 9 – FEB 20
Wildfires raged in California and Oregon last summer. In Utah more than one thousand wildfires burned in the same time period. This exhibition aims to refresh our memories of that season of destruction and to see wildfires through new eyes.

Featuring 18 Utah artists, the works display a variety of perspectives and sensibilities that explore the wildfires in our region: their growing prevalence, the destruction they cause and their connection to climate change. Working in a range of media, including paintings, drawings, prints, assemblage and ceramic, the exhibition aims to create dialogue between relevant stakeholders: home owners, emergency workers, artists and policy makers. The works are supplemented with passages from ‘A Burning Testament’ by Terry Tempest Williams.

Some of the artists were evacuated from their homes, some lost property or loved ones and some work as firefighters themselves. With a nod to the legacy of atomic testing in the American West, and to our ongoing degradation of our natural environment, we see images of towns turned to graveyards, of families fleeing their homes, and of flames spewing particulates into the air. As such, the exhibition is a clarion call to take action against climate change.