Collaborative Exhibition by Jennifer Cronin and Dusty Patches

Newtok is a remote Alaska Native village situated on the Ningliq River, near the west coast of Alaska.  Although a very remote and quiet place, Newtok has come face-to-face with climate change.  Due to a combination of thawing permafrost, low levels of sea ice, and strong storms, the land of Newtok is eroding dramatically. The village is currently in the process of relocating to a new site called Mertarvik, which will be safe from this climate change-caused erosion. 

In 2016, visual artist Jennifer Cronin embarked on a trip to Newtok to document this changing landscape.  Upon returning, she spent the next several years developing a series of paintings and screen prints titled Seen and Unseen that captured this eroding landscape.  Known for her large-scale realistic paintings, Cronin brought an eye for detail to her renderings of Newtok.  Meticulously painted landscapes unravel as they disappear into a wispy haze of white paint.  Screen prints, which at first glance appear to be nothing more than blank pages, gently beckon the viewer as they slowly reveal the subtle details of a landscape at the edge of existence.  All of this work points to the serene beauty of Newtok, while simultaneously bringing to light its extreme vulnerability.  “These paintings were my attempt to capture this disappearing landscape, and give viewers a space to connect with this landscape and contemplate its loss,” says Cronin.

In 2019, Cronin and musical Artist Patrick Mitchell (aka Dusty Patches) began discussing the project after Cronin asked him to perform at the 2019 Gallery opening for the series. As a result, Mitchell created an album inspired by the Seen and Unseen series and the story of Newtok.  Mitchell composed all of the constituent musical elements of the work and then recorded and live mixed the album during a single live performance on modular synthesizer.

In approaching Newtok, Mitchell composed all the constituent musical elements of the work and then recorded and live mixed the album during a single live performance on modular synthesizer. The album draws heavily on sprawling ambient synths, electric and acoustic post-punk guitar motifs, cryptic vocal sampling, vintage drum machines, and modular patches that often sound like birds or the sea.  The subject matter of the album, the complexity of its arrangement, and its execution as a single live recorded performance makes Newtok a unique musical experience.  

About Newtok, Mitchell says:

This record was an exploration of themes. When faced with the immense canvases Jen Cronin produced upon her return from the village of Newtok, one can't help but feel awe. With the sheer size of the works towering above you, you are compelled. There is overwhelming beauty, desolation, a sense of urgency, and a sense that it is, in fact, far too late. These visual themes, and the emotions they evoke, were connected to the sounds and compositions of this record. There is a coldness to the digital soundscape, but organic sounds of nature and humans tether and steer the album through a journey of musical storytelling.

NEWTOK: Seen and Unseen captures life in the Anthropocene, both in its beauty and its complexity.  [salonlb.] is proud to present the long-awaited collaborative exhibition and album debut by Jennifer Cronin and Dusty Patches that profoundly documents the reality of the climate crisis.