Chip Thomas and the Painted Desert Project

September 6, 2024–January 5, 2025

Curated by Kevin Moore, FotoFocus Artistic Director and Curator

Chip Thomas is an American photographer, public artist, activist, and physician living in Arizona. In 1987, he moved to the Navajo Nation, between Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon, to work as a physician. Simultaneously, he began photographing the Navajo people (Diné) and maintained a darkroom to develop his work. Soon after his arrival in Arizona, Thomas carried out a billboard “correction” on the Navajo Nation, replacing the word “Pepsi” with “Diabetes” in the phrase “Welcome to Pepsi Country,” in an effort to call out the effects of American capitalism on the landscape and the people of his new community.

Since 2009, Thomas has worked under the pseudonym jetsonorama, combining photography and traditions of street art, placing work on billboards and abandoned structures in the region as a way to celebrate the rich cultural history of the Navajo people. The exhibition includes examples of Thomas’ original, documentary-style photographs and their application as elements in public art, installation, film, and graphic media.

In 2012, Thomas developed the Painted Desert Project, a residency program in which he has invited street artists from around the world to explore and execute work in the desert landscape. More than 25 artists have participated over the past decade, enlivening the region’s public spaces with various distinct styles. A special sub-section of the exhibition includes work by a sampling of the Painted Desert artists.

Painted Desert Participants: 2501, Gaia, Icy and Sot, Kill Joy, ROA, Chris Stain, Stinkfish

Collaborator: Ken Ogawa

Chip Thomas and the Painted Desert Project (PDF)

A mural depicting artist William Rankins Jr. on the side of Ollie's Trolley, seen from Liberty Street in Cincinnati, Ohio. — Chip Thomas, *Sight ≠ Vision*, 2024. Wheatpaste mural. Photo by Taylor Howard

Sight ≠ Vision at Ollie’s Trolley

A newly commissioned mural by Chip Thomas Sight ≠ Vision is also on view as part of the 2024 FotoFocus Biennial: backstories exhibition Chip Thomas and the Painted Desert Project. Located at the locally beloved restaurant Ollie’s Trolley, the portrait mural pays tribute to Cincinnati-based artist and muralist William Rankins, Jr. Rankins, who lost his eyesight in recent years, had already witnessed the destruction of most of his work due to redevelopment and other environmental causes. Chip Thomas has been creating large-scale murals since 2009, mainly across the Navajo Nation, between Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon, while he was working on the reservation as a physician. His works are often of people, bringing communities to life and showcasing human experiences to wider audiences beyond gallery walls.

Press Release: FotoFocus Unveils Public Mural by Chip Thomas as part of the 2024 Biennial (PDF)

Solo Contemporary Photography Family Friendly Film/Video

Related Events

September 28, 2024
12:00pm – 5:00pm

The FotoFocus Symposium is designed to bring together Participants to discuss the backstories theme and its relationship to lens-based art and the world today. These conversations foster timely and in-depth dialogue around art in the current social and political climate.

12pm Light Bites

1pm Memory Fields Conversation
Sso-Rha Kang, Curator of Memory Fields, Curator at The Carnegie, Cincinnati, OH and Artist Jesse Ly, Dayton, OH

1:30pm Chip Thomas and the Painted Desert Project Panel
Moderated by Kevin Moore, FotoFocus Artistic Director and Curator, New York, NY; with panelists Chip Thomas, Artist, Flagstaff, AZ; Ken Ogawa, Maker/Artist, Columbia, MO; and Sunny Dooley, Diné Hozhojii Teller, Creator, and Poet, Diné Nation, NM

2:30pm Southern Democratic Spotlight with Filmmaker Michael Almereyda, New York, NY

3pm Ming Smith Conversation
Ming Smith, Artist, Harlem, NY and Daisy Desrosiers, David and Francie Horvitz Family Foundation Director and Chief Curator at The Gund, Kenyon College, Mount Vernon, OH

4pm backstories Keynote Lecture
Kathy Ryan, former Director of Photography at The New York Times Magazine, New York, NY

Additional Information: FotoFocus strives to create a welcoming, supportive, diverse, and inclusive environment in our workplace, in our programming, and in our partnerships with artists, curators, collaborators, and the public. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) will be available at the Biennial Symposium, sponsored by Ohio Humanities. For questions regarding accessibility accommodations during FotoFocus events, please email info@fotofocus.org.

Access to the entire FotoFocus Biennial Program is only one benefit of being a FotoFocus 2022 Biennial Passport holder. GET THE PASSPORT for free entry and exclusive events!