Listen to this articleSalt Lake City Gallery Stroll invites the public on April 5, 2019, for an evening of imagery from local legend Mark Twight’s latest book REFUGE. The show features images spanning his career including mountaineering in the Alps, Himalayas and the Alaska Range, to street scenes in London, Rome, Paris, St John’s, Salt Lake City, and landscapes shot on the road in England, Iceland and the American West.
Twight, a renowned professional climber, retired voluntarily after a 20-year career instead of being compelled to quit by injury or circumstances.
“Of course, without climbing I felt a void inside. What will I become without the discipline climbing enforced, the hierarchy of values it shaped and the social circle it drew tightly around me?” Twight explained, “I believe choices lead to paths. Paths lead to destinations. My decision to start climbing put me on a lifelong path.”
A student of physical fitness during his entire climbing career, Twight founded Gym Jones – a physical training facility and web-based educational, motivational project. His method, developed by training elite athletes and military personnel, caught the attention of Hollywood, which lead to training actors for several blockbuster movies including: Man of Steel, 300: Rise of an Empire, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Batman vs. Superman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, and Aquaman.
Climbing and training has brought Mark to places he would not have otherwise seen: Antarctica, Bulgaria, Israel, Iceland, Japan, Tibet, Nepal, Pakistan, Norway, Argentina, Bolivia, Australia, France, Italy, Spain, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Canada and throughout America.
“I have carried notebooks, a pen, open eyes and a camera in every place, but I don’t call myself a photographer. I have a camera. I point it at things. I know my way around it, the darkroom and the computer,” Twight claimed, “although I am not now the man of action I was, what I did informs what I do and what I will do in the future.”
In 2017, Twight co-founded a media company, Nonprophet, LLC, producing periodicals, books and a weekly podcast that examines the intersection between art and action, the philosophy of effort and the active expression of it.
GALLERY RECEPTION
Friday, April 5, 6-9 p.m.
Mark Twight will be presenting his story at 7 p.m.
972 S. 300 West, SLC
Eats provided by shutupEAT
