Soul Service Station by Alison Saar 4, Desert X 2025, Coachella Valley, California [Photography]

Soul Service Station by Alison Saar, Desert X 2025, Coachella Valley, California  

Alison Saar’s work weaves personal and cultural narratives, drawing inspiration from spiritual traditions, mythology, and African diasporic histories while uncovering the hidden potential of found materials. Central to Saar’s practice is the concept of salvage, both as a material and metaphorical act. She reclaims discarded objects—tin ceiling tiles, weathered wood, glass bottles, and cast-iron pans—imbuing them with renewed vitality and purpose. This process reflects her dedication to preserving the embedded histories and cultural memories in these items, particularly those connected to Black female identity. Saar’s transformations carry an alchemical quality, turning the mundane into the extraordinary and embodying renewal, resilience, and healing.

Read more

The Desert Biennial produces desert X, a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization founded in California, conceived to produce recurring international contemporary art exhibitions that activate desert locations through site-specific installations by acclaimed international artists. Its guiding purposes and principles include presenting public exhibitions of art that respond meaningfully to the conditions of desert locations, the environment and Indigenous communities; promoting cultural exchange and education programs that foster dialogue and understanding among cultures and communities about shared artistic, historical, and societal issues; and providing an accessible platform for artists from around the world to address ecological, cultural, spiritual, and other existential themes.