As nature writer Edward Abbey put it in Desert Solitaire, “You can’t see anything from a car.” There is a value judgement implicit in this statement. Abbey and others equate a certain connection to nature with spirituality, purity, and a unique kind of enlightenment, but that sort of experience in the outdoors deliberately excludes most park visitors. Using a state with a wide variety of public lands as a springboard, Hargrave and Lynn explore all five Utah National Parks and consider the complexities of a relationship to landscape that is heavily mediated by vehicles, cameras, and our own nostalgia.

The artists acknowledge the land where this work was made, as the care of these places has happened from time immemorial by the Ute, Southern Paiute, and Puebloan peoples. While these sites are under the control of the National Parks system, it is indigenous peoples who continue to put necessary pressure on the US government to preserve these spaces.

About the Artists

Katie Hargrave and Meredith Laura Lynn are artists and educators who work collaboratively to explore the historic, cultural, and environmental impacts of public land. Their work has been shown at Atlanta Contemporary (Atlanta, GA), the Wiregrass Museum of Art (Dothan, AL), Austin Peay State University (Clarksville, TN), House Guest Gallery (Louisville, KY), and has been published by Walls Divide Press (Memphis, TN). Together they have been artists in residence at Signal Fire (Portland, OR). Hargrave is based in Chattanooga, TN and recent exhibitions include The Front (New Orleans, LA), Neon Heater (Finley, OH) and Alabama Contemporary Art Center (Mobile, AL). She has been an artist in residence at Epicenter (Green River, UT), Hambidge Center for the Creative Arts (Rabun Gap, GA), and the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT). Lynn is based in Tallahassee, FL. Her solo work has recently been shown at the Morris Graves Museum of Art (Eureka, CA), Miami University of Ohio (Oxford, OH), and the Alexander Brest Gallery (Jacksonville, FL). She has been artist in residence at the Jentel Foundation (Sheridan, WY), the Kimmel Harding Nelson (Nebraska City, NE), and the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT). Hargrave and Lynn met at the University of Iowa, where they both earned MFAs. meredithlauralynn.com  katiehargrave.com