The Air Project: Utah

The Air Project: Utah explores population expansion, development, the consumption of energy and resources and the inevitable influence the byproducts of these processes have on the air in Utah. An atmospheric phenomenon known as inversion intermittently grips the valleys surrounded by mountains and traps air containing contaminated particulate matter which is dangerous to breathe. It is often more visible during the winter months, but is recurring throughout the year and is happening more frequently as years pass. Coal fired power plants, rising numbers of vehicles on the roads, incineration based industrial businesses, mining production facilities, wild fires and residential energy consumption are all contributors to the bad air quality. I will continue to objectively document the sources of this kind of pollution and the pollution itself, the places and people that it affects, and the history of airborne contamination in Utah. This body of work traveled to Connecticut in 2018 for a solo exhibition at Fairfield University. Later that year images from this series were selected for the Utah Division of Arts and Museums Statewide Annual Photography exhibition, juried by Deborah Klomp Ching and Miguel Arzabe. This resulted in a purchase in 2019 by the State of Utah’s Fine Art division for their permanent collection. Work from this series was also published in 2018 by Subjectively Objective and Float Photo Magazine in their The Vernacular of Landscape book. This work joined a traveling exhibition that was presented in Detroit, Michigan and Brooklyn, New York.