Time, Truth, and Other Immeasurables opens Fri, Sep 11. Image: L, 03 49 09.7, +24 03 12, 2017. Airbrushed pigment on canvas. Collection of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church History Museum.
Time, Truth, and Other Immeasurables opens Fri, Sep 11. Image: L, 03 49 09.7, +24 03 12, 2017. Airbrushed pigment on canvas. Collection of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church History Museum.
June 26–September 19, 2026
This exhibition takes its title from Gary Snyder’s poem “For Nothing,” included in his Pulitzer Prize–winning collection Turtle Island. The book reimagines North America as a “living entity” that dissolves arbitrary political borders and draws from Native American mythologies to advocate for a deeper, cosmic-level relationship with the land.
Similarly, Thorp’s paintings nod to the Earth’s own energy and rhythm. Using imagery that references the geothermal activity of the Yellowstone Basin- seismic patterns echoed in the tree lines, the breathing quality of geological formations, and the ability of precipitation to illuminate and transform the land- Thorp depicts a landscape with a complex elemental language. Painting becomes a means of listening to that language and recording how human activity is changing the conversation.
These landscapes are understood as inherently political; the reopening of nearby mines, public land selloffs, and logging leases near Yellowstone’s borders provide an urgent backdrop to Thorp’s exploration of the geological archive. Thorp also traces the context of how place names—”Devils Tower”, “Hells Canyon”, “Spiteful”—can function as markers of othering, historically rendering land and indigenous inhabitants as malevolent. Drawing on the traditions of her Iranian heritage, Thorp maps the parallels between human intervention, mythologies, and geological authorship that offer a deeper understanding of our world.
Supported by Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Salt Lake County Zoo, Arts & Parks Program, Utah Division of Arts & Museums, Lawrence T. Dee & Janet T. Dee Foundation
Eleanor Mahin Thorp’s work explores the intersections of geology, mythology, extraction, and cultural memory. Drawing from childhood experiences observing mining industries in the American West alongside Persian animistic traditions and divination practices passed down through her family, she investigates how landscapes become sites of both material and symbolic transformation. Through extensive field research, Thorp visits mines, geological anomalies, former battlefields, and culturally significant landscapes, documenting the ways human histories and natural processes become embedded within the earth.
Working primarily through large-scale painting, Thorp reconstructs the surfaces, textures, and strata of stone formations using layered pigments, mineral matter, and material interventions that echo geological processes. Her paintings function as both records and reimaginings of specific sites, preserving traces of place while emphasizing patterns, symbolic markings, and visual distortions that reveal the reciprocal relationship between landscape and human culture. Influenced by Iranian fortune-telling traditions that interpret images emerging from raw materials, her work considers geological formations as active image-makers, storytellers, and archivists rather than passive subjects.
Thorp received her MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University and her BFA from Weber State University. She has presented solo exhibitions at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, ICA Tephra in Washington, D.C., and 1708 Gallery in Richmond, and Plato Gallery in New York. Her work has been recognized through numerous residencies and fellowships, including the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Professional Fellowship, Banff Centre Emerging Artist Residency, Monson Arts Residency, Wassaic Project Residency, and Yellowstone Art Museum Artist Residency. She has been featured in publications including The Washington Post and Yellowstone Public Radio.
↗
↗
