In Place

In Place is a small volume of meditative images conceived as an expression of Sheikh’s respect for the indigenous people of the American Southwest and the sacred territories they defend.

In 2017, during the first Trump administration, President Trump ordered an 85 percent reduction in the size of Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah, opening it up to potential exploitation by mining, fracking and natural gas exploration. Through his friend the writer and conservationist Terry Tempest Williams, Sheikh was introduced to the members of Utah Diné Bikéyah, a coalition of the Hopi, Navajo, Ouray Ute, Ute Mountain Ute and Zuni tribes, which had formed to protect their native lands. They invited Sheikh to join them as artist-in-residence, and between 2017 and 2022 he photographed the region and the people, working with the tribal communities. In October 2021, President Biden restored full protection for Bears Ears, together with Grand Staircase-Escalante, and Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monuments, part of a pledge to conserve what remains of the natural landscape and areas sacred to tribal communities. But with the inauguration in 2025 of President Trump for a second term, the potential for exploitation has returned.