MEEKER I Organizers of the Meeker Classic Sheepdog Trials are pleased to announce that Cat Urbigkit’s “Portraits Of Pastoralism” art exhibit will be on display Sept. 3-7, during the trials.
This 20-image traveling public art exhibit features Urbigkit’s black-and-white photographs of pastoralists around the globe, illuminating the challenges faced by people whose cultures involve the seasonal movement with livestock herds (transhumance).
This multi-disciplinary project uses artistic works to address a worldwide humanities topic.
This educational art exhibit allows the public to see the faces of the pastoralists and their animals, from cattle and sheep producers on public rangelands in the American West, to goat herders in Spain, and women milking their yaks in Mongolia.
Global transhumance is also a constant thread of Urbigkit’s non-fiction book, “Shepherds of Coyote Rocks: Public Lands, Private Herds and the Natural World,” released in October 2012 by The Countryman Press, a division of W.W. Norton, and this exhibit provides a visual affirmation of the book’s theme.
The exhibit features photos from four continents and includes images of pastoralists from the American West, Peru, Africa, Nepal, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Spain, Bulgaria and Turkey. The exhibit is a celebration of humanity, with diversity from around the globe.
The exhibit is made possible through the generous support of numerous individuals and organizations. Partial funding for the exhibit is provided through grants provided by the Wyoming Arts Council and the Wyoming Humanities Council, with grant administration and supervision provided by the Wyoming Wool Growers Association and the Green River Valley Museum. United States Artists provided the organizational structure for all other donations.