Community Engagement Spotlight: Sav Pearson

Savannah is a writer and community organizer from the unceded Lands of the Tocobaga, Calusa, Miccosukee, and Seminole Nations, today known as St. Petersburg, Florida. They graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with a B.A. in Comparative Literature and Society. Sav writes speculative short stories that explore issues of ecocide, queerness, and disability. In their writing and research, they been inspired by the work of adrienne maree brown, Sunaura Taylor, and Linda Hogan, theories like emergent strategy and degrowth, the philosophies of Buddhism and Taoism, various activist handbooks and manifestos, ecological novels like The Deluge and A Tale for the Time Being, and radical climate justice movements. Sav is especially interested in the role of art, poetry, and performance in nonviolent direct action. As a community engagement fellow in the Environmental Humanities Program at the U, they are collaborating with local artists and activists in their efforts to save the life of Great Salt Lake.

Below are Sav's written responses to my questions about her time exploring art and activism around Great Salt Lake. 

Your work explores the intersections of art, activism, and the Great Salt Lake. Can you share how these elements come together in your current projects and what inspired you to focus on this unique environmental space?

I've been interested in the role of art and performance in activism ever since I got involved in organizing with Extinction Rebellion in New York. Their actions were always a spectacle, and a lot of people involved in XR were writers and artists. When I arrived in Salt Lake City for grad school, I wanted to investigate this through my community engaged work. I was pretty blown away by the movement to save Great Salt Lake. The 2024 rally at the state capitol building was one of the most beautiful demonstrations I've ever seen- and I was wearing the bison puppet almost the entire time! There was this incredible moment when everyone at the rally read the invocation from irreplaceable to the Lake in unison, and I almost burst into tears inside the bison because I'd never heard anyone read poetry to a Lake before. I realized art was operating in a very special way in this movement- not for the sake of specific demands or policy goals, but instead to facilitate a deep cultural shift to right relationship with this place.

How do you see art playing a role in raising awareness or driving action for the preservation of the Great Salt Lake? What impact do you hope your artistic and activist efforts will have on the community?

The movement to save the Lake is place-based, emergent, and relational. Artists and activists each bring their unique practices, rituals, and tactics, but there are common threads in the way they relate to the Salt Lake Valley and the species who live here. First, they are not afraid to look directly at the traumatic legacies of settler colonialism and racial capitalism that caused the Great Salt Lake crisis, and they understand that saving the Lake is about environmental justice and relational repair. Second, they see the Lake as a sentient being with inherent worth who deserves to live and flourish along with all the species she sustains, including humans. That’s part of why people refer to the Lake with ‘they/she/he’ pronouns, rather than ‘it’ pronouns. Third, they look to the Lake and her species as teachers and collaborators in this work- from brine shrimp to phalaropes to pelicans. Finally, they use vigil-keeping, poetry, puppetry, dance, and theater as vehicles for movement building. Their artmaking practices and activist practices are so entangled that there is no separating the two. This makes for unique and vibrant movement ecosystem, and it has so many lessons to teach us!

Artist-activists think of themselves as one strand in a larger web of organizing- they know other folks are doing the important work of drafting legislation and hosting town halls. Their art engages people by tuning in to a different frequency. Nan Seymour, a Lake-facing poet-activist, often says ‘we are working on the level of myth.’ The Vigil for Great Salt Lake is trying to facilitate a deeper transformation in the way people relate to the more-than-human communities all around us. Everyone wants to save the Lake, but they insist the way we do that matters. ‘Walking the waves’ around the capitol reminds us how to slow down, be still, and listen. ‘Celebrate the species’ reminds us how to play, dance with strangers, and love the more-than-human like our own family. Demonstrations like the vigil and the dance protests in the capitol taught me that there’s something radical about making space for wonder, joy, and pleasure in activism. They invite people in, and they interact with grief and rage in a powerful way.

What challenges have you encountered while navigating the intersection of environmental activism and creative expression, particularly when addressing urgent issues facing the Great Salt Lake? How do you stay motivated in the face of these challenges?

This movement has made me reflect on what it means to organize in an environment that grows ever more disabling. Following Sunaura Taylor, we can think about the Lake as a “disabled ecology-” one that has been harmed, and this harm has trickled out to impact human communities. I have a chronic illness that makes it difficult for me to walk fast or far. Capitalist culture tends to ignore or ostracize disability, so I was worried about what this meant for my work here. The Vigil for Great Salt Lake involves slow walking, singing, and stillness- practices that facilitate genuine connection and community care. I remember feeling so relieved when I first got involved and realized this was a movement space that would not judge me for taking rest. Many folks involved in this work are already dealing with different kinds of illnesses or disabilities- some of which stem directly from living in this place where the air has been poisoned. The means people are always checking in and tending to one another. This shows how disabled ecologies like Great Salt Lake also inspire creative modes of attunement, solidarity, and resistance.¹

The 2025 Vigil for Great Salt Lake will begin in January, on the first day of the legislative session. For more information on art, activism, and Great Salt Lake, check out the following links:

irreplaceable

lake words

Nan Seymour

UYES

 

[1] Sunaura Taylor, Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert, University of California Press, 2024, pp 4.