Culture Clashes 

Land Body @ Ogden Contemporary Arts
The notion of "Mother Earth" is just one of the many ways that we have traditionally given the landscape human qualities. Land Body, the current group exhibition at Ogden Contemporary Arts curated by Kelly Carper, explores the connection between the human body and the landscape through the perspective of eleven female artists working in the American Southwest states of Utah, Arizona and New Mexico.

Included among the represented artists is Nikesha Breeze, whose film work Stages of Tectonic Blackness (pictured) takes on the history of the African diaspora by comparing the exploitation of Black bodies with the extraction exploration of the land. Native American artist Cara Romero investigates the connection between indigenous women and their ancestral landscapes along with the hyper-sexualization of Native women, while Utah's Wendy Wischer compares land management policies with the legislative "management" of female bodies. Also participating in the show are Al Denyer, Sonia & Miriam Albert-Sobrino, Chelsea Call, Jaclyn Wright, Jill O'Bryan, Josie Bell and Sama Alshaibi.

Land Body runs through Feb. 20 at Ogden Contemporary Arts (455 25th St.). Masks are currently required for admission. Visit ogdencontemporaryarts.org for additional exhibition and venue information.

Frank Buffalo Hyde: New Works
The collision between the traditional ways of indigenous peoples and the realities of modern life have long informed the work of artist Frank Buffalo Hyde, including provocative images like Native Americans in traditional attire being photographed on cell phones, or an American bison transformed into a trendy hamburger. His attempts to break the boundaries of what people think "Native American art" should look like continue in his current online-exclusive exhibition of new work via Modern West Fine Art.

The represented pieces still find Buffalo Hyde investigating the iconography of the American Indian in tension-filled ways, like the gun-wielding yet resigned-looking figure in Puck Ficasso (pictured). He also draws on the pop-culture images of his childhood, like breakfast cereal mascots, and shifting the perception of such "all-American" images as the cheerleader by placing them in a Native context. There's even work that deals with his identity as an artist with a disability in the two Congenital paintings. "When working on a piece, I tap into the universal mind," Buffalo Hyde writes on his website. "The collective unconsciousness of the 21st century."

Visit the online exhibition through Feb. 28 at modernwestfineart.com.

Frank McEntire: And No Birds Sing
It's no exaggeration to suggest that the modern environmental movement really began in 1962, with the publication of Rachel Carson's landmark book Silent Spring, in which the author explored the impact of pesticides, particularly DDT, on declining bird populations. In recognition of its 60th anniversary, local artist Frank McEntire—one-time director of the Utah Arts Council and Salt Lake Tribune art critic—takes Carson's book as the launching point for his investigations of a "natural world in crisis" in the exhibition And No Birds Sing.

McEntire's sculptural work draws on images of both humanity and the natural world at risk, like a feather caught in a tangle of thorns. The series of pieces is meant to celebrate our planet and call attention to the mounting threats to its sustainability, evidenced by ongoing loss of bird populations. "Our response," McEntire writes, "will determine if humanity remains in the expansive scope of geological time.

And No Birds Sing hangs in Nox Contemporary Gallery, located at 440 S. 400 West in the Homeless Healthcare Clinic Complex, by appointment through Jan. 28. Masks are required in the facility, and indoor attendance will be limited. For additional information, visit facebook.com/noxcontemporary2021.