In 2019, Malia Jensen formed five sculptures from livestock salt licks—a hand, head, breast, foot, and donuts—and installed them into wild areas around the state of Oregon. While animals and the elements slowly altered the carved salt, 18 motion-triggered cameras monitored the process. Looking through the recordings “patterns emerge,” Jensen explains, “changing light, growing antlers, pairings, births, behaviors shifting with the seasons.” The tapes have been made into a mesmerizing six-hour film, Worth Your Salt, which is displayed on three large-scale monitors in the Cristin Tierney gallery. The ravaged salt relics, now captured in white kiln-cast glass, are placed on wood plinths. “Nearer Nature” is about secrecy, mystery, fragility. —E.C.

Malia Jensen: Nearer Nature
Cristin Tierney Gallery
219 Bowery Floor 2, New York, NY 10002
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