Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
Nowhere is the value of salt more apparent than in Utah, a state built on the ecosystem of the Great Salt Lake. And while each Utahn's life is affected by this mineral, few recognize the historical significance of salt.
Visitors have the opportunity to be enlightened when they experience a new exhibit at the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA): Salt Lines: Exploring Climate, Environment and the Saline Influx, which explores the multifaceted role of salt environmentally, culturally, and historically.
The exhibition runs through the winter, offering an engaging and informative experience for art enthusiasts, environmental advocates, and curious minds alike.
A journey through art and salt
"Salt Lines" showcases work from prominent artists—local, regional, and international— who investigate salt's significance – beyond its culinary use.
Inviting viewers to see salt as a pivotal element in ecosystems, economies, and cultures, this exhibit places a particular emphasis on the Great Salt Lake, a natural wonder of Utah and one of the world's most saline bodies of water.
This fascinating location is a central theme in the exhibition, revealing the lake's vital role in shaping the local landscape and reflecting on the changes it has endured as a result of human impact.
Encompassing a variety of media including photography, poetry, and multimedia installations, the exhibition seeks to deepen public appreciation for this natural landmark, offering insight into how its saline waters influence life and environment in Utah and reflect larger environmental issues affecting similar landscapes across the country and beyond.
The exhibition is thoughtfully curated to inspire a greater understanding of salt's universal relevance, historical significance and ongoing role in environmental challenges.
Featured artists bring salt to life
The exhibition includes works from a diverse roster of artists who bring their distinct perspectives to an increasingly urgent subject.
Among them are several well-known figures in environmental art, whose contributions encourage an exploration of saline landscapes in the past, present, and future.
For example, visitors will experience two immersive installations by Hylozoic/Desires, a multimedia performance duo featuring Himali Singh Soin and David Soin Tappeser. Their aural sculpture "Namak Nazar" and site-specific ruin "Piscean Premonition" trace salt lines across time and space and into an imagined future.
SUMA's curation ensures each piece serves as a portal to understanding the broader implications of salt, and visitors can expect a range of interpretations, from symbolic representations of salt's purity and preservation to its capacity for destruction and change.
With a combination of large-scale installations and intimate, detail-rich works, the exhibition captures salt's multifaceted and often contradictory nature, inviting viewers to ponder its many roles and connections.
The Great Salt Lake connection
The Great Salt Lake is not only a renowned tourist attraction but also a vital ecosystem with a rich history. The lake serves as a living laboratory for artists and scientists alike, drawing attention to salt's broader ecological implications and its relationship to human life and activity.
While noted aerial photographer David Maisel's Terminal Mirage series captures the Lake's macrocosm from above, its magnitude abstracted by his heavenly perspective, Utah-based artist Alexandra Fuller's images from two series—Dissolution and Tautology—present this saltwater body in an intimate human scale, interacting with the beings it at once enlivens and endangers.
Through these artistic depictions, the exhibition underscores the need to preserve this precious resource, one that has shaped Utah's landscape and culture for generations.
By portraying the Great Salt Lake through an artistic lens, the exhibit reminds visitors of its irreplaceable value and the delicate balance required to sustain it.
This local angle isn't just relevant for resident visitors; it also helps foster a sense of pride and stewardship among all Utahns.
Visit "Salt Lines"
Located in Cedar City, SUMA has earned a reputation for delivering thought-provoking exhibitions that engage audiences in meaningful ways, and "Salt Lines" is no exception.
Perfect for art enthusiasts, families, students and anyone with an interest in environmental and natural science, visitors will gain a richer understanding of how something as ordinary as salt plays an extraordinary role in our lives and the world around us.
Southern Utah Museum of Art offers free admission, making this an accessible and enriching experience for people of all ages.
Plan your visit
"Salt Lines" will be on display through March 8 at the Southern Utah Museum of Art, located at 13 S 300 W in Cedar City. For more information on the exhibit, or for museum operating hours, please visit SUMA.
