For the past five years, I’ve been so lucky to have had the opportunity fly out to Salt Lake City for the AP Art History reading. Not only do I get to nerd out with other art history lovers for a week, I also get to go on (kid-free!) adventures. Three of the five years, I’ve made the pilgrimage to see Spiral Jetty, one of the most iconic works of contemporary earth art. Robert Smithson used tons of black basalt rocks and earth to create a 1500-foot spiral stretching out into the Great Salt Lake. It’s just a couple of hours from the SLC airport, so it’s pretty easy to rent a car and make a short day trip. The drive leads you way out to Middle-of-Nowhere, Utah, surrounded by nothing but sky and mountains (and horses! And cows! And probably some rattlesnakes, but I’ve had the good fortune to avoid those) . Ultimately you find yourself barreling down a dusty dirt road for 10+ miles, with only the occasional sign to reassure you that, no, you didn’t miss a turn back there. Finally the Great Salt Lake, and then the Jetty, come into view.
When Spiral Jetty was constructed in 1970, it was neatly surrounded by the waters of the Great Salt Lake. But the work is (intentionally) subject to the will of nature, and its form changes with time. Within a couple of years of its creation, the sculpture was entirely underwater, and it didn’t reemerge until 2002. The three times that I’ve seen it, the water level has been so low that the shoreline is a distance away from the work.
It’s a site-specific sculpture meant to be experienced (bring your throwaway shoes for this part, you’ll never get that sticky sand out of them). You walk down the rocky (hopefully not rattlesnake-infested) hill to the flat expanse of relative nothingness that stretches out forever in front of you. The landscape is striking, haunting, and most definitely martian-like. You walk the spiraling line of basalt rocks counterclockwise (back in time). It looks prehistoric and otherworldly. Even while surrounded by groups of fellow Jetty pilgrims, the experience feels personal and profound.
One of the most striking features of the Great Salt Lake is its color— the water is pink. The microbes that have adapted to live in this super salty environment give it its very unique tone, and it’s one of the features that the artist was drawn to about this part of the lake. It’s one of my favorite parts to photograph!
