Art exposes Cache Valley pollution
Chris Gauthier, USU assistant professor of art, exhibited “Evidence and Artifacts: Particle Matter 2.5,” a project designed to raise awareness of the pollution of Cache Valley’s air, to a sizable audience on Tuesday at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art.
The photos can be seen by students and locals while the exhibit is open to the public, through Jan. 11.
The project is designed to expose locals to the seriousness of the pollution of air that, as Gauthier describes, is “lethally toxic” in spite of the “eerily beautiful” and “serene” nature that surrounds Cache Valley’s residents.
“I think we’re setting ourselves up for a global problem,” he said.
“The reason it’s happening to us is the geography. The mountains around us are holding in air, so we’re just pushing this stuff around,” he said, describing how the mountains essentially create a “soup” of hazardous air particles that, perhaps surprising to locals, rival major cities of the world for poor conditions.
That “stuff” would include tiny particles that have the ability to penetrate into the lungs, along with remnants of cow manure, which, according to Gauthier, constitute 40-48 percent of the particles.
It’s because of this condition that Gauthier became inspired to take photos of such a scene in the first place.
Impressed with the fog cover of the county in the mornings, Gauthier set out early one day to take shots of the “magical” scenery. It was only after a short time that Gauthier noticed his lungs feeling heavy, prompting him to further research into why such a phenomena had occurred.
“I realized that I was in one of the most beautiful, but most dangerous environments I’d ever encountered,” he said.
Gauthier, learned after a short while that the condition of the air of the county was in the same ballpark as that of cities with notoriously filthy air, such as Los Angeles and Sao Paulo.
Gauthier’s hope is to inspire others locally to have a desire to make changes to improve.
“My work is successful if what I’ve done inspires others, and brings about discussion,” he said. “Let’s get involved, instead of being passive about it. Let’s get out there and talk about it.”
Among the students who attended the presentation was Heidi Bruner, a graduate assistant in photography.
“The best thing about Chris is that he’s the kind of professor who will guide and teach you to make amazing photographs, but the success is always yours,” she said. “He’s the kind of professor that can pull your personality into the work.”
She said that dedication is noticeable in the Evidence and Artifacts project.
“Chris is someone who cares, so as you can see through the pictures, they evoke that he’s trying to get a reaction, negative or positive. And that’s how his classes are too. But that’s for the benefit of his students,” she said.
Gauthier said he? encountered some rather difficult, and at times humorous, challenges as he took photographs during the brisk winter months. The frigid weather caused some physical discomfort, from being buried to the waist in ice-water to occasionally not being able to move the camera because it would freeze. However, achieving the shots he now displays to others was worth the struggle, he said.
“It takes a lot of personal tenacity to do this kind of work … I put myself through a lot of pain to portray what I was going for,” he added.
He said he views his work as as just a smaller aspect of the big picture to initiate change.
“The scientist sees the phenomena, and is the guy that actually intellectualizes it. The politician creates the laws to make it happen, and publicizes it … my job as an artist is to bring the phenomena to you,” said.
“You can’t hold the particles in your hand,” he said, explaining the need for others to be awakened to the issue through photography.
Gauthier said he trusts as residents of Cache Valley make steps to improve the air here, having seen the filth through his photos, it will begin a chain reaction that can reach far beyond the state’s borders.
“As an educated community, as a research community, we sit down and decide… if we can make the change on a community level, then Los Angeles can make the change on a community level. We can be the beginning,” he said.
Professor Gauthier said many of the findings of the research ought to be attributed to Randy Martin, a USU environmental science professor.
“Dr. Martin’s research has been critical to the findings in Cache Valley,” said Gauthier, and he has been the most vocal about the need to clean the local air we breathe.
Many of those who attended the open house, such as Marilyn Chris Clark, were motivated by the photos and by Gauthier’s hope, and recognized the need for discussion and change.
“I think we all need to do more. We feel like we’re in a place that’s so pristine, but because of the (dangers caused by) mountains and elements, we do need to work on the air quality,” she said.
“His work is quite different, which is good for the students to see the contrasts. I think he’s a nice complement to the department … the students seem to relate to him well.”
Gauthier was quite complementary of the local area and the opportunities like the one given him on Tuesday to initiate the discussion of a critical issue, and believes that through sincere conversation, planning and effort, the toxic air problem can be reversed.
“I’m living in a gorgeous place, I have asthma, my children have asthma,” Gauthier said, “we’re literally killing our children, so it’s a personal issue, and should probably be for others as well.
“I have the greatest job in the world because it allows me to learn every day,” he said, even if it means learning about environmental threats to a community.
“Every work that I’ve done has been personally connected to me and the people who live around it,” he said.
“It’s magical and beautiful here, and I want to save this place.”
– rhett.wilkinson@aggiemail.usu.edu