Blue Galleries, Center for Visual Arts
Exhibition dates: September 5 – October 24, 2025
Gallery hours: Tuesday–Friday, 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.

Artist: Teal Gardner

Opening Reception: Friday, September 5, 2025

• Artist walk-throughs (informal): 5:00–6:00 p.m.

• Reception: 6:00–8:00 p.m.

• Free admission

In this immersive video and sound installation, artist Teal Gardner presents re-edited video footage of Alaska's wild lands, taken by caribou in the Fortymile herd. The caribou were equipped with collar-mounted cameras by Dr. Libby Ehlers and the University of Montana, who used the footage to study how caribou are responding to the pressures of climate change. The installation places viewers at the chest-level perspective of the animals, evoking a strange and intimately shared perspective. Its soundscape consists of an ever-building chorus of bird vocalizations, gleaned from field recordings of birds in the caribou's range. The multiplying birdsong is punctuated by a deep bell sound at regular intervals, like a bell tower ringing the hour. Combining scientific research with reverence for caribou and the ecosystems that support them, the installation invites reflection on kinship, care, and the fragile interconnections of living systems.