A Gathering: Portraits of Moab
A GATHERING: PORTRAITS OF MOAB
Samantha Metzner's "A Gathering: Portraits of Moab" is a social practice arts project and installation that seeks to explore the diverse and intimate personas of those who call the Moab valley, the traditional lands of the Ute and Ancestral Pueblo peoples, home. Through dedicated exploration of the various identities residing in this place, this installation also aims to celebrate the shared humanity of individuals within the community while breaking down barriers of preconceived notions of identity and internal biases. Therefore, acknowledging all of the joy, grief, happiness, anxieties and full spectrum of being that is at the depths of the collective human experience. By showcasing over 100 portraits in an immersive exhibition this project invites the viewers and participants to collectively and individually partake in a practice of celebrating vulnerability, joy and struggle within all of our complex senses of self and community. This exhibition also acknowledges that gathering in community can often feel like a radical act in a world sometimes fractured by divisive political rhetoric and a culture of rampant and often harmful individualism and that by prioritizing love within self and community, collective healing and empowerment can be allowed to happen.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Samantha is an artist and fine art photographer currently based in Moab, UT. She specializes in historic and alternative printing processes as well as portraits and is adept at working across photographic mediums, including film, digital and mixed media pieces. Samantha received her Bachelors of Art in Photography from Guilford College in 2015 and has since been featured in various publications and juried shows. Most recently, she was selected as the 2022 Artist in the Parks for the Southeast Utah group of national parks and monuments. Most of her current work revolves around themes of identity and place, playing with the intersections of intimacy within the self and chosen surroundings.
Project Gallery
