Deep breath

WHEN WHITNEY TASSIE MOVED to Salt Lake City 10 years ago, she became acutely aware of air pollution’s impact on life in the Mountain West. “I had never experienced that sort of, like, daily routine of checking the air levels, or wondering if my kids were going to be able to play outside at recess or not,” says Tassie, who came to Salt Lake to be curator of modern and contemporary art at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts (UMFA). The experience made her think about how she might process it through a special exhibition.

On July 16, visitors to the museum were given the chance to ponder their own relationship to the elemental in the resulting exhibition, “Air,”