The Kimball Art Center’s new exhibit, “Between Life and Land: Identity,” gets to the core of the question “Where are you from?” said Curator Nancy Stoaks.

“In the show we’re thinking about the way identity has shaped our relationship with land,” she said. “The exhibit brings to light the histories, mythologies and values that have shaped how we use the land historically and in the present day.”

“Between Life and Land: Identity,” which opens Friday at the Kimball Art Center, is the second of the “Between Life and Land” series that started with “Between Life and Land: Material” that ran from Dec. 9, 2022, to April 9, Stoaks said.

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“This is Chapter 2 of the three-part series, and we have the works of 15 artists in this show,” she said. “More than half of these artists are Utah-based artists, and the rest are from all around the country and two international artists. “

The works that do that allow us to think about some of the histories and philosophies that supported Western expansion in the 19th century.” Nancy Stoaks, Kimball Art Center curator

The exhibit features photographs, paintings, sculpture and drawings, Stoaks said.

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“In the first gallery, we have art of three photographers who have captured images of the desert and the West,” she said.

Those artists are Richard Misrach, Levi Jackson and Jaclyn Wright, Stoaks explained.

“Richard is such an important photographer in the way that he has changed the approach to landscape photography for so many artists,” she said. 

While Jackson is known to combine photography with performance art, Wright’s work, “High Visibility (Blaze Orange),” will feature a large wall installation of the desert that includes found objects such as shot-up targets, Stoaks said.

“(The exhibit) is an ongoing project that uses debris collected from improvised gun ranges on public lands to create photographic installations that explore the intersections of photography, capitalism and settler colonialism,” Wright said in a statement. “Through the use of original images and archival photographs, maps, and diagrams from the University of Utah’s J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections, the work investigates the supporting role photography plays in the reification of nature, a process that codifies the criteria for land use based on sex, race, and class. (And) I am interested in how these codes manifest themselves in behaviors observed in Utah’s West Desert.”

While the exhibit has contemporary nods, it also takes some steps back into time, Stoaks said.

“The works that do that allow us to think about some of the histories and philosophies that supported Western expansion in the 19th century,” she said.

The Hudson River School, an art movement established by a stable of East Coast artists around 1825, examined topics such as exploration, discovery and settlement, which is the inspiration for the paintings of Jerrin Wagstaff that are in the Kimball Art Center exhibit, according to Stoaks.

“Jerrin is a great painter who engages with 19th century traditions of painters like Albert Bierstadt, who created fantastic visions of what the West looked like,” she said.

Adding to Wagstaff’s works are paintings by Ron Linn that are part of the painting series called “Gridding the West,” Stoaks said.

“Ron’s work looks at settling and taking ownership of the land,” she said.

Then there’s Wendy Red Star’s larger-than-life sculpture of a buffalo skull that has been impaled by a golden spike, Stoaks said.

“Wendy’s works look at the Transcontinental Railroad and the impact it had on the indigenous communities,” she said.

Adding perspective to works by Red Star and Wagstaff are pieces by Swedish artist Ann Böttcher, Stoaks said.

“Ann has an interesting way of looking at how European countries — namely Sweden and Germany — use motifs from nature to support nation-building and ideologies,” she said. “Ann uses historical images and text, and creates incredible drawings of trees that show how they were tapped into the way a culture represents itself.”

For works that showcase regions closer to Park City, the exhibit features the art of Daniel George, Adam Bateman and Al Denyer, Stoaks said.

“These three think specifically about Utah and issues,” she said. 

George’s subjects, in particular, are the early settlements throughout Utah by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“He looks at how these places were named,” she said. “He finds the ideas that were attached to those places through those names — Jerusalem, Manti, Zion — and the ideas that have lived at these places.”

As Stoaks was contemplating the works that would eventually create “Between Life and Land: Identity,” she knew she wanted to feature unique works, such as Raven Chacon‘s “American Ledger No. 1” that address the theme.

“Raven, who recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Music, for another work, created ‘American Ledger No. 1’ that is visual, but is also a musical score that tells the story and founding of the United States,” Stoaks said. “We’ll have this piece on display, and we’ll do a performance of the piece with students from Park City High School on May 31. They will play regular and nontraditional instruments as well.”

In the meantime, the Kimball Art Center will open this new exhibit with a reception from 6-8 p.m. on Friday, April 21.

“A number of the artists will be in attendance, and we’ll have live music, light bites and a cash bar,” Stoaks said.

In addition to the exhibit opening, the Kimball Art Center has scheduled an array of on-site interactive art experiences. (See box).