November 4th, 2026
Opening Feb. 27, 2027, at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), “Aaron Rothman: Spoils” is an ambitious expansion of a longstanding photography practice into an immersive, interdisciplinary installation.
CAPTION: Photographs of changing landscapes transfer to decorative objects in “Aaron Rothman: Spoils,” the artist’s new solo exhibition at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA). Photo: Aaron Rothman
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Opening Feb. 27, 2027, at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMoCA), “Aaron Rothman: Spoils” is an ambitious expansion of a longstanding photography practice into an immersive, interdisciplinary installation.
Rothman is an Arizona-based artist whose work has long engaged with landscapes of the American West. In the solo exhibition “Spoils,” Rothman offers a perspective on the region's changing environments within broader histories of landscape representation, industrialization and cultural attitudes toward nature by reimagining a historical European “period room.”
The artist’s idea of framing his work through a period room came from the textile collection at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. For Rothman, seeing these textiles in context with other spoils of the British Empire revealed a link between current ecological issues and the decorative design language that emerged with globalized industrialization.
“Recreating that aesthetic, using imagery from environmentally damaged places, and staging it in the way of a period room, seemed like a way to prompt reflection on how we got here and on possibilities for our uncertain future,” Rothman said.
With “Spoils,” Rothman has translated his photographs of contemporary landscapes into furniture, textiles and decorative objects, bringing photography, digital weaving, design and fabrication into conversation. While seemingly a departure from his previous photographic work, Rothman sees this natural extension of his landscape imagery as a reflection of our relationship with nature.
Drawing on motifs from decorative arts, the exhibition explores how these objects reveal both a desire to connect with the natural world and an impulse to control and contain it.
Keshia Turley, SMoCA assistant curator, said it has been exciting to support Rothman as he embarks on this expansion of his artistic practice.
“While ‘Spoils’ certainly confronts the environmental consequences of human activity, I think what's equally important is that it doesn't treat them as an inevitable endpoint,” Turley said. “The exhibition creates space to consider what might emerge from them. It's about recognizing that we still have a role in shaping what comes next and how we begin to imagine something different.”
The exhibition takes the historical representation of nature as something beautiful, decorative and controllable and connects it to the environmental consequences of industrialization, globalization and extraction. “Spoils” asks visitors to consider how cultural ideas about nature have shaped humankind’s relationship to the natural world.
Rothman’s images all depict environments undergoing change, but he noted that recognizing how human activity has altered the natural world does not mean its future is predetermined.
“I want it to be an open-ended experience that gets at the uncertainty of the present ecological moment,” Rothman said. “I hope it brings out a mix of feelings, from sorrow, anxiety and dread, to beauty, awe and consolation. Uncertainty is a scary thing to sit with — but with it, unthought and unknown possibilities still exist.”
“Aaron Rothman: Spoils” is organized by Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and curated by Keshia Turley, assistant curator.
Situated in Old Town at Scottsdale Civic Center, SMoCA opened in 1999. The museum is located at 7374 E. Second St., Scottsdale, AZ 85251. It is open Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Admission is $13–$16 for non-members; $10–$13 for students, seniors (65+) and veterans; and free for Scottsdale Arts ONE Members, healthcare workers, first responders and patrons 18 and younger. Admission to the museum is pay-what-you-wish every Thursday and every second Saturday of the month. Find more information online at SMoCA.org.
MEDIA CONTACT: Brian Passey
BrianP@ScottsdaleArts.org
480-874-4626