Makia Sharp, Family Census, 2023, jogakbo handsewn silk organza, silk thread, and wooden dowel

A Greater Utah

UTAH MOCA

The Utah Museum of Contemporary Art is proud to announce that twenty-nine Utah-based artists selected by six Utah-based curators will be featured in the museum’s survey of contemporary art in the state—A Greater Utah. The exhibition will be on view in the museum’s Main Gallery from July 28, 2023—January 6, 2024. 

UMOCA’s Curator of Exhibitions Jared Steffensen remarked, “A Greater Utah gives authorship and authority to six leading Utah-based curators from six regions throughout our state to select work that defines their region. The exhibition seeks to capture the transformative demographic, environmental, and cultural changes in our state today and connect our neighbors around the intersection of art, culture, and geography.”

The six regions represented in the exhibition, and their respective curators, include Northern Utah (Tiana Birrell), Utah County (Peter Everett), San Pete County (Amy Jorgensen), Southern Utah (Jessica Kinsey), Salt Lake County (Nancy Rivera), and Eastern Utah (Valentina Sireech). Curators were asked to select artists whose work explores themes that reflect the most pressing concerns of their region. The result is a sweeping exhibition featuring a wide range of work that addresses issues of land use, climate change, identity, Indigenous rights and practices, language, social change, marginalization, geography, and what it means to be a Utahn today.

The exhibition’s title, A Greater Utah, encompasses both the geographical and aspirational themes of the show. As exemplified by its mission, The Utah Museum of Contemporaty Art maintains that Utah benefits directly when its cultural institutions champion the diverse voices, perspectives, and concerns of artists who represent the varied regions of the state. Through this relationship, local issues are made widely visible and can influence the dialogue around the collective future of the state. 

Participating Artists

Andrew Alba, Collin Bradford, English Brooks, Kelly Brooks, RJ Colorow, James Culbertson, Stephanie Espinoza, Ray Farmer, Richard Gate, Meredith Laura Lynn & Katie Hargrave, Levi Jackson, nic b jacobsen, Brooklynn Johnson, Chelsea Kaiah, Amanda Lee, Art Morrill, Vanessa Romo, Wren Ross, Reza Safavi, Mitsu Salmon, Makia Sharp, Valentina Sireech, Fazilat Soukhakian, Rachel Stallings-Thomander, Kelly Tapìa-Chuning, Alana Tapaha, Xi Zhang