My work flows from the confluence of identity and earth.
It is an attempt to question (and reposition) how humans fit in this world. It critically considers relations to land and its more-than-human life. It makes certain assumptions (and their resulting relations) visible.
My practice is research-based and place-based. Meaning my work is not informed or defined by a certain medium, but by questions. And those questions arise from—and are tied to—specific places. Often these are places that are treated with apathy or slow violence. In many ways, my work is about studying what went wrong. It is about the distance—between beings, and between beings and places—which makes such indifference and degradation possible. I wonder, what fills the space between them, separating them?
These questions inform and fuel my process of interdisciplinary research—which is a slow process, a dance between the abstract and tangible, between research about a place and embodied experiences with it. Some of the research becomes a singular gesture about a place, event, or concept. Other questions and research lead to long-term, place-based projects, which include me moving and living with a certain place.
This research eventually translates into poetic works. Poetics—for me—is an editing to essence. It is finding a simplicity that can hint at (and hold) complexity. Conceptually, my work deals with large-scale concepts and structures. Yet materially, my work brings these concepts to the scale of the body. It uses the small and intimate to point to these larger structures and ideas.
I’m interested in how the material, intimate, and poetic can bring internal change—which can then influence structural change.
education
MFA Art & Ecology // University of New Mexico // 2022
MS Environmental Humanities // University of Utah // 2015
BFA Studio Arts // Brigham Young University // 2012
residencies + fellowships
Spiritual Ecology Fellowship / Kalliopeia Foundation (2017–2018)
Bears Ears Artist in Residence / Utah Diné Bikéyah (2017)
Artist in Residence / Taft-Nicholson Center (2015)
Floyd O’Neil Fellowship in Western American Studies / University of Utah (2015)
select exhibitions + screenings
As the Lake Fades, UMOCA / UT (2024)
ABSENCE + PRESENCE: the materiality of distance, John Sommers Gallery / NM (2022)
Cherry Reel Film Festival, Southwest Film Center / NM (2022)
REEL Poetry Film Festival / TX (2022)
Honoring Loss, Masley Gallery / NM (2020)
Material Impact, John Sommers Gallery / NM (2020)
O_Studio Gallery/ Melbourne, Australia (2020)
At First Sight, CFA Downtown Studio / NM (2019)
LDS International Art Competition / UT (2019)
Stories of Place, Westminster University / UT (2017)
Gestures of Place, University of Utah / UT (2017)
publications
Chamisa: A Journal of Literary, Performance, & Visual Arts of the Greater Southwest / writing + video (2024)
Consecrate/Desecrate: A Great Salt Lake Anthology / video (2022)
Emergence Magazine / video (2020)
Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place, 25th Anniversary / image (2019)
Rock Art: A Vision of a Vanishing Cultural Landscape / writing (2019)
Emergence Magazine / video (2018)
85 for 85 / image (2018)
High Country News / video and images (2016)
Salt Front / writing (2015)
Stance Magazine / image (2011)
Inscape Journal / image (2008)
artist talks + visiting lectures
Artist Round Table, Springville Art Museum / UT (2024)
Evening for Educators, UMOCA / UT (2024)
As the Lake Fades Panel, UMOCA / UT (2024)
Climate Change in Rural Utah, Social Cohesion Lab / UT (2024)
Global Environmental Studies Lecture, BYU / UT (2023)
Environmental Honors Course, BYU / UT (2020)
Shift Conference / WY (2017)
Environmental Ethics Initiative Series, BYU / UT (2017)
McCall Outdoor Science School / ID (2017)
Uplift Conference / CO (2016)
Dartmouth College / NH (2016)
Wasatch Peak Experience Conference, University of Utah / UT (2016)
Halki Summit II / Heybeliada, Turkey (2015)
Forum, The Alta Club / UT (2015)
Facets of This Desert Panel: Response to the Great Basin / UT (2015)