nikhil.io

BETWEEN BEARS EARS AND DANEROS MINE, FROM THE SERIES"...THERE IS STILL POETRY"BETWEEN BEARS EARS AND DANEROS MINE, FROM THE SERIES"...THERE IS STILL POETRY"PreviousNext

Mary Mattingly

American, b.1978

BETWEEN BEARS EARS AND DANEROS MINE, FROM THE SERIES"...THERE IS STILL POETRY", 2018

Chromogenic dye coupler print

The background image of this scene, made in the artist's studio, is a panoramic view depicting Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, adjacent to the controversial Daneros Uranium Mine, which sits on public land. A plan that calls for a significant increase in the size of the mine and trucking millions of tons of uranium through Bears Ears has faced legal challenges from conservation groups and the Bears Ears Intertribal Coalition since 2018.

Mattingly pictures samples of ore and soil from the area, signifying the transformation of the land into a commodity. A cluster of spent shell casings and parts from army transport trucks reference the military infrastructure being developed in the region. Additionally, the artist displays a quotation from Samuel Beckett's novel The Unnamable (1953): "It's because there is nothing or because I have no eyes." For Mattingly, this sentiment is a reflection on perception: how land is often viewed only as a resource from which value must be extracted.