Great Salt Lake

2022

Extreme climatic conditions have been causing severe droughts worldwide. In addition to these environmental occurrences, vast quantities of water are being diverted to irrigate agricultural lands, golf courses, and private gardens. Water is disappearing, deserts are encroaching, and countless fish and bird species are dying. These phenomena seem to be serious attempts by our planet to push humans back, making it clear that we need to respect the boundaries of Mother Nature, that there are certain places where human beings are simply not meant to be living.

Decades spent working in the American West have exposed me to the power of desert landscapes, and the undeniable fact of desertification, a major consequence of climatic forces transforming our planet. Great Salt Lake has significantly diminished in recent decades, rapidly decreasing in the past few years. In November 2022 the levels of the lake were at a historic low. Brine shrimp and flies that provided sustenance for millions of migratory birds struggled to survive in the increasingly salty water. The lakebed, coated in toxic substances such as arsenic, cadmium, mercury, etc. threatened the release of toxic dust clouds into nearby Salt Lake City.

This body of work on The Great Salt Lake addresses the sobering reality of drought. My Sisyphean attempt to water and mow a patch of sod, ride a bike on the baked earth, establish an adoption center for brine flies and shrimp, and pull a canoe through the desiccated lakebed are subtle commentaries on the unquenchable thirst of human expansion into the desert. The ramifications of this habitat loss are extreme, and if we do not act fast the lake will be completely desiccated within the next few years.