***All proceeds from this film will be donated to two organizations. 50% will be donated to the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation in Utah and 50% will be donated to ACC's partnered organization, Earth Guardians. Learn more about these orgs at the bottom of this page.

A creature of grief emerges from the phragmites - their changing form holding hundreds of years of death and loss. An eared grebe wanders the d(r)ying mudflats - tracing the pattern of salt the only way they know how, wondering how much of a home will be left in their lifetime. A body communes with the lake - worshipping, offering, surrendering.

Great Salt Lake-
pi'a-pa
"descendent of Bonneville Sea
kin to the newe, now called the Ute, Goshute, Shoshone, and Paiute peoples
refuge to travelers, nesters, and vagabonds
home of the winged, the four-legged, the many limbed
held at the feet of many mountains
vessel of protection
alchemizer of toxins
a body of salty water

Some things we know to be true:
the life of this body is in peril
there are only three inlets to this great body of water
fed by mystery from the earth
similar bodies have died a similar death
they do not, will not go gently
the acts of a few are throwing away our future
caging our desires
erupting with profit and catastrophe
criminal, political negligence
we don't have to keep doing it this way
lake words"

Film Credits-
Executive Direction and Choreography: Kara Komarnitsky
Videography and Editing: Veronica Harvey
Performance: Severin Sargent-Catterton
Poetry: milo and the lake words collective
Costume Design: Nathaniel Woolley
Music: Michael Wall
Sound Engineer: Steph Kasallis
Production Support: Mica Vainwright, Sophia Cutrubus, and Kitty
Co-produced by Artists Climate Collective with support from the Salt Lake City Arts Council

Proceeds will go to...

The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation-
In 2019, they began fundraising efforts to build a cultural interpretive center on recently acquired land adjacent to the Bear River Massacre site. Fundraising is still ongoing, but the pieces are in place, and the tribe anticipates breaking ground in 2024. This project will improve the water quality, remove invasive species, and restore native plants and animals as well as construct an amphitheater and walking trails, and build a cultural interpretive center. This work will return water to Great Salt Lake and contribute to land back efforts that need to lead our relationship to landscape going forward.

https://www.nwbshoshone.com/boa-ogoi-cultural-interpretive-center-1/
A short PBS film about the work happening on the land: https://www.pbs.org/video/water-restoration-project-qcn1hd/

Earth Guardians-
Earth Guardians is a revolutionary environmental nonprofit that provides youth with the resources and training needed to create anti-racist, anti-colonialist environmental and climate-oriented projects and campaigns that make a real difference locally, nationally, and internationally.
https://www.earthguardians.org/our-story