Photography Professor Records Sacred Images of Lost People

Craig Law, photography professor at Utah State University, and David Sucec of Virginia Commonwealth University, have been documenting the thousands of Barrier Canyon-style images hidden throughout southern Utah’s labyrinthine canyons.

 

Recently featured in Smithsonian magazine, Law and Sucec, who is currently an independent curator in Salt Lake City, have chronicled the images for 14 years. They estimate it may take up to two decades to finish.

 

Law said Sucec seduced him into helping him with his research. The pair journey into Utah’s Barrier Canyon country each spring and fall, as extreme temperatures prohibit their research for the rest of the year.

 

Law said they plan to have the documents and their records available for the public and the special collections of the state so scholars can make sense of the artwork. Some of the artwork is close to disappearing in its natural setting and may not be visible within the next couple of years.

 

“There is finite human activity in the beautiful and delicate landscape in which we now occupy,” said Law.

 

According to the story “Traces Of A Lost People” in the March Smithsonian magazine, when Law and Sucec began, there were thought to be 160 Barrier Canyon sites existing on the Colorado Plateau, the vast 130,000-square-mile region that comprises parts of Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico. At last count, Sucec and Law have visited more than 275 sites, and some rock art connoisseurs believe there could be as many as 400.

 

Small bands of people traveled this harsh landscape from about 7500 B.C. to about A.D. 300, surviving on vegetation and whatever small mammals, fish and birds they could catch with snares and nets, said Navajo Nation archaeologist Phil R. Geib. While nobody knows for sure what these figures signify, speculation centers on shamanistic or religious figures.

 

“It’s a worthy thing for me to put energy and effort into, because these human beings thought a lot about future generations and they had a reverence for life,” said Law.

 

Law has been at Utah State for 27 years and was the head of the art department for six years, stepping down from the position to work on projects.

 

The book Sacred Images by Gibb Smith is sold in the Utah State bookstore and can be found in national parks’ visitor centers. This book contains Law’s photographs and Sucec’s research and stories on the spectacular paintings.

 

The president’s home at Utah State University displays a set of Law’s prints in the reception room at the request of President Stan and First Lady Joyce Albrecht.

 

Law’s prints are also on display in Brigham City as part of the Utah Arts Council traveling project. The Utah Arts Council is the main supporter of small grants for Law and Sucec’s research.