Opening reception for Preserving Greatness, by Chris Carlson. Exhibit runs from September 28–October 28 in the Main Library's Children's Gallery.
Artist's Statement
This work began with personal loss. After my father died from Alzheimer’s, I found myself drawn to Great Salt Lake—a place I had known, but never truly seen. As I grieved, I returned to the lake again and again. In its stillness, I found reflection. In its beauty, found healing.
Over the course of four years and more than 150 visits, the lake began to reveal itself. I saw its subtle textures, shifting light, fragile wildlife, and raw power. The Great Salt Lake is one of North America's most extraordinary natural wonders. It is the largest terminal saline lake in the Western Hemisphere—a rare ecosystem shaped by time, humans, salt, and sun. It cools our summers, creates our winters, fuels key industries, supports millions of migratory birds, and gives us sunsets like nowhere else on Earth.
And yet, it is vanishing.
These photographs are not just images. They are a record—a portrait of a lake in crisis. A living landscape, transforming before our eyes. A place still pulsing with life, despite every reason not to.
Preserving Greatness is now a book—the most current and comprehensive photographic record of the Great Salt Lake. It’s a visual call to action for Utahns and beyond. Thank you for taking the time to look. If we remember this place—if we truly see it—perhaps we can still save it.
Artist's Bio
Chris Carlson is an artist with a BFA in photography from Brigham Young University and deep ancestral roots in the Great Salt Lake region, tracing his lineage to the earliest pioneer settlers on Antelope Island. Over the past three years, Chris has devoted himself to capturing the lake’s majesty through both drone and traditional photography, revealing its beauty, scale, and vulnerability.
Though photography is not his primary career, his work is grounded in fine-art aesthetics and environmental purpose. Chris is the author of Preserving Greatness: The Great Salt Lake in Photographs, a visual tribute to a lake on the edge. He also serves on the board of Grow the Flow, a nonprofit focused on restoring water to Great Salt Lake. His work seeks to bring together diverse voices to ensure the lake’s future for generations to come.
preservinggreatness.com/
This event is held as part of the Wasatch Festival of Books.
AGE GROUP: | All Ages |
EVENT TYPE: | Exhibits | Arts & Creativity |
NOTE: The Main Library's Rooftop Terrace is closed for renovations.
Salt Lake City's Main Library, designed by internationally-acclaimed architect Moshe Safdie in conjunction with VCBO Architecture, opened in February 2003 and remains one of the most architecturally unique structures in Utah. This striking 240,000 square-foot structure houses more than 500,000 books and other materials, yet serves as more than just a repository of books and computers. It reflects and engages the city's imagination and aspirations. The structure embraces a public plaza, with shops and services at ground level, reading galleries above, and a 300-seat auditorium.
A multi-level reading area along the Glass Lens at the southern facade of the building looks out onto the plaza with stunning views of the city and Wasatch Mountains beyond. Spiraling fireplaces on four floors resemble a column of flame from the vantage of 200 East and 400 South. The Urban Room between the Library and the Crescent Wall is a space for all seasons, generously endowed with daylight and open to magnificent views.
