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The Arts Intel Report

Hoodooland

Sept 17 – Nov 14, 2020
100 Crosby St #305, New York, NY 10012, United States

The Italian-born photographer Priscilla Rattazzi first visited southwest Utah a decade ago, and was deeply moved by its beauty. It wasn’t until 2017, however—when the Trump administration opened 2 million protected acres in Utah for resource extraction, including nearly 1 million surrounding the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument—that Rattazzi began photographing the landscape in earnest. She took particular interest in the mushroom-shaped rock formations known as “hoodoos.” The resulting collection of black-and-white and color images, on display in the months leading up to the presidential election, capture what’s at stake. “I jokingly decided that many of these crazy rock formations looked like an army of mystical creatures and middle fingers,” says Rattazzi, “sending a pointed message to Washington.” —J.V.

Photography by Priscilla Rattazzi. Courtesy Staley-Wise Gallery, New York.