‘Thrist. Great Salt Lake’ is the first in a series of publications by Fazal Sheikh examining the effects of climate change and extraction in the Western United States. It charts the destruction of the lake by industrialisation and its pollution by chemical waste, as well as the loss of natural habitats for wildlife, the siphoning off of rivers that feed it, and the toll taken by rising temperatures and long periods of drought, all of which have brought the lake to crisis point.

In November 2022, the water level of the Great Salt Lake fell to its lowest on record. Diverted water supply from its feeding rivers, pollution from nearby extraction plants and ravaging droughts have brought this landmark to a crisis point.
As the lake reached its lowest ebb, artist Fazal Sheikh, together with writer Terry Tempest Williams, walked the shoreline, awed by its epic beauty while recording the destruction of its natural habitats. As Utah native Williams writes in her essay, “Retreat,” she is witnessing the death of a lake that has been a constant presence in her life. Meanwhile, Sheikh documents the shrinking salt basin from above, revealing how the lake has been exploited: plundered for its natural salts, dissected by concrete highways, discolored by toxic waste, depleted by evaporation. His images hold a mirror to the lake’s surface, charting its destruction while demanding the viewer’s visceral response.