Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- A public art installation in Salt Lake City connects people to the Great Salt Lake through portraits and stories.
- The project, "Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories," features photography and podcasts discussing the lake's impact and future.
- In collaboration with Wake the Great Salt Lake, it aims to inspire community action for the lake's preservation.
SALT LAKE CITY — A downtown public art installation aims to connect people with the Great Salt Lake using stories and photography.
"Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories" is a multimedia art installation by the nonprofit Of Salt and Sand and includes 10 street-level billboard-type displays of portraits. Each portrait includes quotes from the individual about how they are connected to the Great Salt Lake and impacted by its decline.
Of Salt and Sand's mission is to explore what it means to stay in Utah and what it will take to keep the state and the Great Salt Lake healthy. The nonprofit has been doing that through its podcast, also named "Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories."
QR codes on the photograph displays take people to episodes of the "Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories" podcast where the portrait subjects discuss their perspectives on the lake's health and future.
Of Salt and Sand collaborated with the Salt Lake City Arts Council and Craft Lake City's Local Voices initiative to implement this installation. The installation was funded by Wake the Great Salt Lake, a temporary public art program that uses art to drive community action on the Great Salt Lake.
Wake the Great Salt Lake was one of eight applicants chosen to receive a $1 million grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge to focus public art on civic issues. The "Stay Salty" installation is just one of a dozen projects the grant will fund.
Telling the lake's stories
The podcast has been one avenue for sharing salty stories, but Gravlin's photography has brought a visual and physical component to the efforts.
"We wanted to connect the words and the stories and these people to the community — bring what's happening at the lake ... to our community. Not everyone can make it out to the lake so bringing those stories here was very important," said Jeri Gravlin, the visual director and photographer.
Before taking the portrait, Gravlin asked each individual to choose a location at the lake that meant something to them and bring an object that represented their connection to the lake.
One lady brought her son, as taking care of the lake benefits future generations like him. An Indigenous leader interviewed brought a baby carrier that was made by their tribe from materials on Antelope Island.
"There are these really beautiful pieces that connect the story. I had everyone face the same direction so when it was displayed everyone was literally facing the lake — everyone is connected," Gravlin said.
As someone with a degree in sustainability, Gravlin was excited to be a part of an art project that connects storytelling with environmental justice issues and gives a voice to "a landscape that desperately needs our attention."
She tried to choose people who don't always get to have their stories told, such as farmers along the Bear River, brine-shrimp farmers who harvest on the lake every day and Utah State Prison inmates located right next to the lake.
"I want people to take away stories of people they don't realize are affected by the lake. I really loved lifting up voices that not only are marginalized but haven't been included in this conversation thus far ... and getting that perspective is not only interesting but powerful too," she said.
Preserving the lake's future
"Stay Salty: Lakefacing Stories" is an experience that intends to evoke reflection and action, encouraging a collective effort to advocate for the lake's preservation so future generations can continue to call Utah home. It is the second art installation the group has created, but this one is a much bigger scale, said Olivia Juarez, co-founder of Of Salt and Sand.
Juarez hopes the installation impacts the community to be more aware of how the future is shaped by the health of the Great Salt Lake. The installation can help "humanize" the lake's challenges, making it more relevant so it's part of dinner table conversations or talked about with friends at brunch, Juarez added.
"It isn't just a thing that environmentalists care about, but it's a thing that everybody living here cares about and talks about and ultimately gets involved with doing something about it because they recognize that this is a make or break thing for being able to call Utah home. If they want to stay here and want their kids and grandkids to stay here ... we have to care for the Great Salt Lake and make sure the ecosystem is in a healthy condition," Juarez said
Meaningful action and creating change looks like a lot of different things, but it all starts from conversations, Juarez added.
"Absolutely one of the most valuable things you can do is to talk about it. ... Talk to anybody that is willing to listen and get your story out there so that we can show that the public's will is to be able to stay here and live in a healthy place," Juarez said.
Wake the Great Salt Lake program lead Andrew Shaw said he is proud of what has been put together and that this installation is "hugely important" for the city.
"Art has a way of bringing hope to the issue, and that's something 'Stay Salty' has done really well," Shaw said. "It's focused on this being our place and why should we stay and giving us the hope to work together and unify on this issue that we can continue to make this a place that we can stay as a community."
The 10 displays are located on Broadway (300 South) between 200 West and West Temple and will be up through the end of February.
On Saturday, Feb. 22, guided tours with the portrait subjects and team behind "Stay Salty" will be available along with hot drinks and a scavenger hunt.
