Grand Canyon Artist In Residence 2025

As the Grand Canyon Artist in Residence, sTo Len spent 6 weeks embedding within the community of the village at the Grand Canyon. Beginning with archival research at the museum collection and conversations with different employees of the park (from interpretative rangers to geologists to the Lost and Found department,) Len formed a behind- the-scenes perspective of one of the most visited National Parks in the US. Taking a week to hike down to the bottom of the canyon and stay with rangers along the way, Len was able to experience firsthand the canyon’s vast landscape, its numerous microclimates, the Colorado River, and of course its layers of rock spanning billions of years.

Inspired by the scale of time tangibly present in the geologic record and its imperfections, Len’s work began to take the form of drawings, video, and audio recordings that together examine themes of collective memory and our relationship to place. Gathering fallen sticks from local trees such as Ponderosa Pine, Pinyon, and Juniper, Len then used the fireplace at the Grand Canyon’s Community Recreation Center to burn the sticks encased inside of old cookie tins which created charcoal to draw with. This series of drawings focuses on a visual immersion into the textural language of the rock formations that he encountered on his hikes inside of the canyon.

Revisiting the museum collection and pulling from their film and video archive, Len then created a new video work that paints a visual history of the Grand Canyon through a collage of film footage that spans over 100 years of documentation. The video also includes footage that Len shot on his hike and gives personhood to the canyon itself, who asks visitors to reflect on their own experience. These various works became part of Len’s public installation called Grand Witness, which was designed for the Sphere Room at the main visitor center. During the course of the exhibition, the artist was present at select times to engage audiences in conversation and activate a photo portrait series that used a green screen to place them in various sites and moments in the park’s history, blurring the timeline while creating new memories for visitors to take home. Over the course of 2 weeks, thousands of visitors experienced this intervention that subverted their tourist experience with historical and existential questions for them to engage with.

Above: 3 Photos by John Segesta

Photo by John Segesta

Major Thanks to the Grand Canyon Conservancy, Grand Canyon National Park Service, Clover Morell, Dennis Alvarez, Grace Lilly, Kim Besom, Anne Miller, John Segesta, the Museum Collection, the Lost and Found Dept., Grand Canyon High School, all of the rangers and staff who took the time to meet with sTo Len, and all of the visitors who entered the installation, took portraits, and engaged in conversations.