Hiking through the Narrows trail was by far my favorite experience of the trip. After driving through the orange deserts of Arches it was so refreshing to wade through turquoise waters and see leafy green trees sprouting from the ground. Along the actual Narrows trail, I found virtually no trash. It was only when I returned to the trailhead and parking lot areas where the shuttle would stop did I find abandoned shoes and various pieces of debris. I really felt as though this collection of trash spoke the most to the location where it was found. Even my dad abandoned his shoes to carry them and go barefoot down the river trail. So it made a lot of sense that so much of the litter I found was also abandoned footwear, discarded or broken in the attempt to wade through the slippery trail. For this piece, I made a conscious choice to fracture the image by leaving many spots where the negative spaces could reveal the true shape of the trash items.
Acrylic on trash found at the Zion National Park on the Narrows Trail (water bottles, waterproof bootie, hair ties, broken flip flops)