Between Life and Land: Identity

Between Life and Land: Identity is the second chapter of a three-part exhibition series that explores our relationship with the land. In part two, 15 artists examine the role that identity–our values, practices, histories, and fictions–plays in shaping and re-shaping the environments we call home.

In its entirety, Between Life and Land: Identity explores the power portrayed in portraits of places. These portraits of places tell us stories about our past, present, and future, informing our land ethics and practices. Through a range of media, the artists in this show reflect on some of the most mythologized landscapes and seascapes in North America and their symbolic utility in colonial projects and nation-building.

From Albert Bierstadt’s seductive, nineteenth-century landscape paintings of the American West to contemporary advertisements for the Caribbean paradise, representations of nature have long served as representations of people–their values, dreams, and everyday realities. In this second chapter of Between Life and Land, 15 artists examine the cultural, historical, material, and emotional bonds between people and places, asking us to consider humanity’s role in shaping and re-shaping the identities of environments we call home.

Participating Artists

Artists include Adam Bateman, Ann Böttcher, Raven Chacon, Blue Curry, Al Denyer, Daniel George, Rashawn Griffin, Levi Jackson, Ron Linn, Richard Misrach, Jared Ragland, Wendy Red Star, Jerrin Wagstaff, Jaclyn Wright, and Steven Yazzie.

On-Site Art Interactive Experiences

Visitors at Kimball Art Center can participate in on-site creative and experiential activities to deepen their relationship with the exhibition. On-site experiences include a prompt to explore the visitor’s perspective of nature through Alfred Bierstadt’s In the Mountains (1867). Using the work of Ann Böttcher and Jerrin Wagstaff as inspiration, visitors can create a collage that represents their values or ideas with provided materials. Also, while exploring the creative responses to mapping displayed in the exhibition, visitors are encouraged to add to a collaborative piece that considers the ideas that we belong to the land or the land belongs to us.