#nanibah chacon

[sinceileftyoublog]

Heather Trost Interview: Processing Descent Through Creativity

BY JORDAN MAINZER

Many pandemic records, no matter how positive they may seem on the surface, nonetheless leak a creeping sense of dread, or at least the unease of the unknown. Heather Trost’s Desert Flowers (Ba Da Bing!) is not one of those records. Maybe it helped that it was technically Trost’s second record finished during COVID, the first being 2020′s Petrichor. But centering around the very idea of oases, growth in a place that’s not supposed to support it, Desert Flowers finds utopia in familial comforts, dreams, and nature, no matter how imperfect. If the psychedelia its name suggests, connotes an overabundance of idealism, the album itself is anything but, marked by determined language and tactile instrumentation.

Desert Flowers simply flows. Opener “Frog and Toad are Friends” is the warm-up sci-fi surf instrumental. “The Devil Never Sleeps” is menacing for a moment only as a reminder for Trost to listen to her gut, her vocals otherwise carried by buzzing guitars and rolling drums. “Blue Fish”, whose arpeggiated wobbly synth line appeared as a motif in Peter Strickland’s film Flux Gourmet, is based on Trost’s dream of a blue fish, thrashing about in a bird’s mouth, speaking to her. “You Always Gave Me Succor” references a childhood encounter with a coyote. Throughout Desert Flowers, Trost doesn’t attempt to explain her relationship with flora and fauna; rather, she finds solace marveling at their very existence. 

During our phone conversation last fall, Trost radiated the same enthusiasm for the natural world that appears on Desert Flowers. We went off on minutes-long tangents about our favorite local wildlife refuges, and further talked about her relationship to literature from Greek mythology to, yes, the Frog and Toad series. Read our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.

Since I Left You: Are desert flowers a metaphor for creating during a global pandemic?

Heather Trost: Yeah, I think so. Because I grew up in the desert, I have a lot of desert metaphors rolling around my brain, and the pandemic was a social desert but an opportunity. Obviously, I would have preferred not to have all the death and suffering of the pandemic, but it helped my creative process to have the time and the space to really sink in, be with myself, and write the lyrics and the melodies in a way that was unhindered by the normal business of life.

SILY: A lot of folks, whether they lived in an urban or rural environment, got a newfound appreciation for and became more connected to nature during the pandemic. Do you feel like that happened to you, especially as it pertains to your music?

HT: I’ve always been really connected to nature, but I had the time and space to take walks or be by a river or go to the mountains or go camping. It definitely helped.

SILY: What’s your relationship to the Frog and Toad book series?

HT: It’s a beautiful book [series]. I actually didn’t discover it until I was an adult, but I fell in love with these two characters. Toad is this ornery character who needs a lot of help coming out of his [shell,] and Frog is so carefree and filled with joy. He’s just like, “Look, Toad, it’s spring! Here are some cookies!” He’s so sweet. I feel like they’re the perfect friends.

SILY: Do you follow the Twitter account that every 3 hours Tweets out random lines from the book?

HT: [gasps] No!

SILY: It’s such a funny juxtaposition on the timeline with the hellish political posts or whatever you normally see. Like you say, it’s so carefree and matter-of-fact. A lot of those lines are simple observations and funny because of it. There’s no opinion.

HT: It’s just, “Time to get out of bed.” I’m definitely gonna have to follow that.

SILY: How did your song end up as a motif in Flux Gourmet?

HT: Peter Strickland is a very distinct filmmaker. He was part of this compilation of short horror films that A Hawk and a Hacksaw composed the music for. He made a music video for us for our last record. He came to us with Flux Gourmet, which is almost this incredible inside joke that he lets everybody in on. He was in a band like the characters in the movie, noise musicians that create sounds while cooking. It’s almost autobiographical. He has this amazing ability to create these worlds. I was writing “Blue Fish” when he approached us to do a song for the film, so I took the main theme and created different remixes of it for different scenes in the film.

SILY: Had you seen the film before sending in your music?

HT: Yes. He gave us an early version of the film, and [A Hawk and a Hacksaw and life partner] Jeremy [Barnes] and I fit it to the different scenes and created mixes for the different parts of the film where the music was used.

SILY: Was “Blue Fish” finished at the time?

HT: It was almost finished.

SILY: Did the experience of doing the work for Flux Gourmet influence the final version of the song?

HT: A little bit. It helped visualize the sonic world more concretely, in a way. It was like this dialogue back and forth between the film and the song.

SILY: What about the word “succor” made you choose it for “You Always Gave Me Succor”? You don’t often see that word in popular music.

HT: I wrote the chorus years ago, “You always gave me succor.” At the time, I was going through a lot of healing with my relationship with my mom. My mom is great, and I love her, but moms are not perfect, so it was this idea that even though she wasn’t always able to be there for me, she would always be able to give me succor if I needed comfort. One of my earliest memories is her giving me baby Tylenol when I was little. I was thinking about that, and it developed into this more archetypal mother, mother earth thing that we can take comfort in. 

That then reminded me of a time when I was 9 and camping in her backyard. I woke up and looked out the tent, and there was a coyote feet from our tent. We locked eyes. It was this electric current between myself and this coyote. Time stopped, and everything dissolved. I had this deep moment with this wild animal. That always kind of stayed with me. I see the coyote as a psychopomp, this guide to the unconscious and the underworld. It’s always been an important symbol to me.

SILY: Do you connect the experience of the coyote with your mom?

HT: I do because it happened when I was so young. It was this early memory, like the early memory of her giving me comfort. It was a moment where I realized you can find the same kind of solace and comfort in other creatures besides my mom.

SILY: I assume the following track, “Despoina”, is named after the Greek goddess. What’s your relationship with that mythology in general?

HT: When I wrote “Despoina”, I was reading about the myth of Persephone. There’s a line in the song, “May the grave of your suffering be buried at long last and descend like Persephone / She turns each tear into a seed.” This idea that, like Persephone, you can go into the underworld. In the myth, she eats 6 pomegranate seeds, which ties her to Hades, and she has to stay there for 6 months, which is why the Greeks believe fall and winter happen. I think it kind of goes along with the idea of creating in a global pandemic or situation where sometimes you have to go into the underworld to mine. You take these bitter seeds and turn them into something of your soul or something creative that comes out. I use those moments of descent and process them through my creativity. That myth really corresponds to moments of grief and sadness in our own lives.

SILY: Do you have a favorite track on here?

HT: “Sandcastles”, and I really like “Blue Fish” too.

SILY: “Sandcastles” is pretty groovy, and the line about “Humanity’s violent creations” melting “back into the mountain and the oceans,” also reminds me of the pandemic on a smaller scale, like when wildlife was appearing in places it hadn’t been in forever.

HT: Definitely!

SILY: What’s the story behind the cover art?

HT: It’s actually a closeup of a mural that my friend Nanibah Chacon painted. The mural is actually at a wildlife refuge near my house. The larger picture is a picture of these animals and children together in a beautiful scene with flowers and wildlife that I like to go to a lot and be in nature. 

SILY: What else is next for you in the short and long term?

HT: I definitely want to play shows around this record. I’m hoping to do some touring. I’m always writing songs, so I’ve already started working on new ones. We’ll see: I’ll probably start recording in a little bit. Maybe another record? Maybe an EP? I’m not sure yet.

SILY: Anything you’ve been reading, watching, or listening to lately that’s caught your attention?

HT: “The Debutante” is based on the Leonora Carrington short story of the same title. I read her novel The Hearing Trumpet and then discovered her short stories and wrote that song. I’ve been watching Reservation Dogs. I really Hollie Cook’s record Happy Hour. I’ve been jamming that a lot recently. I recently bought this really funny record, The Zodiac: Cosmic Sounds. It’s music that Mort Garson composed for the twelve zodiac signs. Jeremy looked it up online, and realized members of the Wrecking Crew played on it. Unfortunately, it gets ruined by this guy Jacques Wilson citing poetry about the Zodiac signs over it. The music is so amazing.

[msamba]

Mural in Albuquerque, New Mexico titled She Taught Us to Weave - The title of the piece is a reference to the traditional origins of weaving in the Navajo Nation. Artist Nanibah “Nani” Chacon

Mural in Albuquerque, New Mexico titled She Taught Us to Weave – The title of the piece is a reference to the traditional origins of weaving in the Navajo Nation. Artist Nanibah “Nani” Chacon byu/cybergata instreetart

[originalgiantcontent]

Painting by Nani Chacon.

[newmexmattie]

I finally got to see the Qué Chola exhibit today! The show runs through August 4. “This exhibition features cholas and homegirls in art and pop culture and celebrate her as a symbol of strength, power, and resilience in the face of racial, gender, and economic adversity.” nhccnm.org La Patsy y Los Homeboys by Gasper Enriquez who lives in San Elizario, Texas. What Dreams are Made of by Nanibah Chacon who lives in Albuquerque. “Wilmeras” by Adriana Avila and Benjamin Avila REP! by Pamela Enriquez-Courts who lives in Las Cruces (at National Hispanic Cultural Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/By6myvFACPx/?igshid=1l5ytveeetzfl

[abqartworkers]

Open Letter Regarding the Treatment of Gallery Curator Augustine Romero

October 19, 2020

Mayor Tim Keller Director of Cultural Services Shelle Van Etten de Sanchez Director of Office of Equity & Inclusion Michelle Melendez Deputy Director of Cultural Services Hakim Bellamy Public Art Urban Enhancement Division Manager Sherri Brueggemann

Dear Mayor Keller:

We hope this message finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy. We are members of the ABQ Art Workers collective working for racial and cultural equity within the Albuquerque arts and cultural spheres.

Recently, a concerning situation regarding racial equity within the City’s Public Art Division has come to our attention. We understand that Augustine Romero, the Gallery Curator for the City of Albuquerque, has been evicted from his office at the South Broadway Cultural Center. This raises questions about workplace mistreatment and possible discrimination. Mr. Romero has overseen the South Broadway Cultural Center and KiMo galleries since 2006. As the only curator of the city we are aware of who is working directly with living artists in our community, he is also one of the longest serving curators that is a person of color, identifying as a Chicano man. It is our understanding that Mr. Romero has been displaced to two offices, one in City Hall near the Department of Cultural Services and the other in the offices of Public Art at the Convention Center. This means that Mr. Romero is the only curator in the City of Albuquerque that is not based in the gallery where he curates the majority of exhibitions. This poses a major barrier to artists, many of whom are from underrepresented groups and who regularly met with Mr. Romero at the South Broadway Cultural Center to discuss shows and exhibitions. Now our choice is to meet with Mr. Romero in one of two offices located miles from the South Broadway Cultural Center. Another option is to conduct business such as signing contracts and discussing details of art shows in the parking lot or shed of the SBCC. The other option is to meet in a public space in the gallery with no office space. This is not only humiliating to Mr. Romero and artists, but it also speaks volumes about the lack of critical reflexivity on institutionalized racism, white supremacy, and settler colonialism within the division and the CSD.

This appears to us as a present-day, real-time example of the institutional racism that the City purports to stand in opposition to. According to the City of Albuquerque Office of Equity & Inclusion website, its mission is “[t]o inspire and equip city government to make Albuquerque a national role model of racial equity and social justice.” One of the stated goals of the office is to “[d]evelop a city workforce that is representative at all levels of the demographics of the city.” Also on the Office of E&I website: “We define inequities as disparities in health, mental health, economic, education, or social factors that are systemic and avoidable and, therefore, considered unjust or unfair.”

It seems to us that the actions of Mr. Romero’s superiors in denying him access to these spaces would severely hamper his ability to perform his workplace duties, thereby causing potential disparities related to his job performance evaluation and any potential promotion or salary increase. These are precisely the kinds of aggressions that people of color face in the workplace that lead to the vast continuing racial wealth gap in this country. Furthermore, racial equity with regard to representation within the leadership in the City as a whole, the CSD, as well as the Public Art Urban Enhancement Division appears to fall far short of the Office of Equity & Inclusion’s stated goal to have a workforce that is representative at all levels of our city’s demographics. We find it deeply concerning that the Gallery Curator, one of the few people of color in an important professional leadership position in this Division, would face such serious obstacles from his superiors to the proper performance of his job duties.  

We would like to understand this situation better and to know how the City will take immediate steps to correct this injustice. We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

ABQ Art Workers: Szu-Han Ho, Albuquerque, New Mexico Autumn Chacon, Albuquerque, New Mexico Scott Williams, Albuquerque, New Mexico Nanibah Chacon, Albuquerque, New Mexico

[cyclesecomural]

ARTIST STATEMENT This project began with Tffany Singh’s self examination and reflection upon past works with healing foods & flowers in her installation work. Singhs academic enquiry is centred around the role of the scared in contemporary society.  Often using natural elements to draw on healing frequencies and vibrations to articulate the beauty of natures bounty. She does this to connect with an audience in a real and visceral way, often using Social Practice to engage an audience in the ephemeral nature of projects to create works that evoke spiritual and personal connectedness.

In the spring of 2015 Tiffany began a  thematic residency at SFAI which encouraged creative minds to come together and examine the territory of food justice.  Bringing together artists, food growers and scientists to ask how can we use diverse creative practices to confront inherent social, cultural and economic problems in our food system?  Further, how can we bring together insights from creative fields, environmental sciences, sustainable agriculture, critical theory and food studies to have local, national, and international impact?

Tiffany has collaborated closely with local artist and muralist Nanibah"Nani" Chacon.  As her work centers around site specificity often aiming to create a dialogue between the murals she creates and the landscape they reside in. Nani’s recent work is centred around the beauty and healing properties of  regional and common plants often referred to as “weeds”. This exploration will see Nani create two mural works summer of 2015; One in homage to long time Albuquerque herbalist Maclovia Zamora and the other created by students of Washington Middle School. The students have studied  plants regarded as “weeds” in their community learning the properties of the plants from Maclovia, this research has resulted in the children creating contemporary artworks with this subject matter. The works will reside in the community of Barelas in Albuquerque where Maclovia Zamoras Pharmacy and Washington Middle School reside.

The current collaboration between Tiffany and Nani continues the essential dialogue around our vital relationships with the natural world, in a commentary about the current commodification of natural resource and the intrinsic value of plant life. Using methodologies of the ephemeral and Tiffany’s plant based aesthetic combined with the narrative aesthetic of murals, the collaboration then birthed a land based “Eco Mural”.

In essence, a earth mural with an image created from an assortment of compostable elements, whose function is to provide a living regional based herb garden with a categorical reference to identify common plants that exist and flourish in our lands and communities.

The imagery is centred around a “Mother” archetype acting as a reference to religious beliefs and mythology centred around the notion of “Mother Earth”. The design and plant elements are formed in a centrifugal design utilizing pattern and concentric circles to articulate the continuos cycles we partake in which govern our existence and interaction with the world around us.

The reference Guide will serve as a comprehensive educational tool supporting the garden; This contains the medicinal  properties of the plants used, common names, Ethnobotanical information recipe’s for  nutritious dishes or helpful remedies. The guide was an essential component to bridge the importance of the plants and their applicable uses.

It is our hope that the garden and reference guide will serve as awareness tool that continues to perpetuate the dialogue around the importance and forgotten wisdom knowledge associated to these plants. Especially in a time where the state of the U.S. Medical System is in constant insecurity, we aim to generate these works as a tool for empowerment. As these plants are the most accessible resources in our given communities we see the Cycles Eco- Mural as being a living artwork that functions as a social practice project to aid identification and awareness, whilst providing sustainability, physical, mental and spiritual nourishment through learning and sharing the beauty of these plants.

[bohohobodeb]

November 6 - 14: Santa Fe, New Mexico

Cred: Street Art Exhibit

Santa Fe is the 3rd largest art market in the U.S. Population: 82,800; 250 galleries; the first designated Unesco Creative City for craft and folk arts and design.

[sonsandbrothers]

From day one, LaDonna Brave Bull Allard played an integral role in the Standing Rock protests. Leading the way, Allard made it her duty to protect her tribe’s land and the river for future generations. Standing up against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, Allard established Sacred Stone, the first resistance camp in April 2016. Along with 20 tribal leaders, she became the first of the water protectors that eventually grew to more than 10,000 people and over 200 tribes by December 2016.

Raised in Fort Yates, North Dakota, Allard is from the Standing Sioux Tribe. Her father was a descendent of a medicine man and her great-great-grandmother was a survivor of the Whitestone Massacre that killed and wounded around 400 Sioux Indians.

She graduated from the University of North Dakota with a degree in history. A tribal historian and genealogist for the Standing Sioux Tribe, Allard did not initially consider herself an activist. However, coming from a lineage of strong, vocal women, Allard did not stand idly by as her land and water were threatened. Allard took action and played her part in a movement that brought tens of thousands from across the nation and world to stand together to resist toxic capitalism, environmental abuse and white supremacy..

Allard saw as the first camp went up and as the last came down during the Standing Rock protests. Despite the lack of support from the federal government, she continues to fight for the land, for the water and for her people.

--All year, Sons And Brothers has honored the heroes and hundreds of individuals that have fought and continue to fight the injustices faced by our communities. Over the next week, we will slow things down a bit to recognize the journeys of some  American Heroes and the ways in which they have made today possible and are working to create a more just FUTURE. 🎨  by: Nani Chacon, check out more of their work here: @Nanibah #HealthAndJustice4All #AmericanHeroes #WaterIsLife #StandWithStandingRock #StandingRock #NoDAPL

[lena-victoria]

#11 Mixing codes

(2016) Code Mixing: From Concrete to Canvas 

(one of these artists) Gallery featured works from: Mitsy Ávila Águila, Nanibah Chacon, Lady Pink, Leslie “DIME” Lopez and Jessica Sabogal

[rfernandezmota]

"The River Runs Through it" mural at Española Valley Fiber Arts Center ❤️✊🏽 • Muralist:  Nani Chacon @nanibah • #OnlyArtCanSaveUs #NaniChacon #Espanola #PureNM #NewMexico #NewMexicoTrue #mural (at Espanola, New Mexico)

[laura-ortman]

Nani Chacon! She's premiering a new giant mural next weekend for O+ festival in Kingston, NY---we'll c u dere! #opositivefest @nanibah #beaucoup (at New York, New York)

[wocfeminists-blog]

NANIBAH CHACON

Nanibah “Nani” Chacon is a Chicana and Dinè (Navajo) artist, activist and educator based out of New Mexico. Drawn to the unconventionality of graffiti art, Nani began exploring this medium as a teenager. Eventually, Nanibah began incorporating more aspects of illustration and figure drawing into her art, which is present in her current work.

Nani became interested in the pin-up style of the mid 1900’s, but recognized the absence of non-white women in this style of work. Nani combatted the hegemonic narrative these illustrations presented by making Chicana and Native women the subjects in her own pin-up style pieces. Nani also incorporates Dinè textile design and stories into her work, again pushing for the visibility of diversity in art.

Nani’s contribution to activism is through her art. She collaborates with activist and other artist to create pieces that elicit response from the viewer. She works to bring attention to indigenous issues that affect greater society such as resource exploitation and missing women. Her mural “Agua Es Vida” [Water is Life] that is displayed in front of the El Paso Museum of Art comments on the importance of water in native culture while bringing attention to the exploitation of it. Her pieces “Exhumed” and “On Both Sides of the Border...Women are Still Being Murdered” bring awareness to murdered and missing indigenous women. 

Instagram: @nanibah

Creative Project:

“Chiflados”

“La Onda” 

“Looking for Rainbows”

“Naa iz Naah”

Sources

     Chacon, Nanibah. Personal interview.  27 Sept. 2017.

     “Episode 30. Interview with Nanibah 'NANI' Chacon.” Broken Boxes Podcast, 20 May 2015, www.brokenboxespodcast.com/podcast/2015/5/18/episode-30-interview-with-nanibah-nani-chacon.

     “In the Studio with Nani Chacon.” YouTube, YouthCineMedia, 30 Mar. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPtOTTkMdk4.

     York, Leo. Artist Nanibah Chacon with Creation at Dawn. 2014. Photograph. Native Lodge, Albuquerque. (Top Photo)

Shayla Bezjak 2017

[abqartworkers]

Oct 19 Open Letter Re: Race, History & Healing Project

October 19, 2020

Mayor Tim Keller Director of Cultural Services Shelle Van Etten de Sanchez Deputy Director of Cultural Services Hakim Bellamy Public Art Urban Enhancement Division Manager Sherri Brueggemann

Dear Mayor Keller,

We hope this message finds you and your loved ones safe and healthy. We are members of the ABQ Art Workers collective working for racial and cultural equity within the Albuquerque arts and cultural spheres. We are writing with regard to several concerns about the City’s actions and communications related to the Race, History & Healing Project and its response following the events surrounding the La Jornada monument.

Regarding the RHH Project, some of our members have participated directly in RHH sessions and have witnessed problems with lack of transparency, organization, and overall mishandling. Those concerns have been outlined in a letter sent to your offices on October 9, 2020. With this letter, we are bringing to your attention several troubling issues regarding the language and representation of the RHH Project, specifically on the project webpage at https://www.cabq.gov/culturalservices/race-history-and-healing-project

1. The image chosen for this website and the community survey site is an image from the La Jornada monument. If this monument (and all of its components) is the very source of the violence and discord that has taken place, why was this image selected as a representation of the RHH Project? It seems to us both tone deaf and actively re-traumatizing to the communities who have grave objections to this monument in its entirety. As you are aware, the monument is a representation of conquistadors and settlers entering what is now New Mexico: the colonizers enslaved Indigenous people and forced them to pay taxes and tribute to the Spanish crown. This led to revolt by the Acoma people, to which Oñate and his men responded by attempting genocide: they tried to destroy the Acoma village, leaving only 200 survivors out of the 2,000 villagers. Oñate ordered one foot of 24 Acoma men to be cut off, and he committed other atrocities that led even the Spanish crown to charge him with cruelty and excessive force. We cannot help but wonder if the selection of the image was related to the sculptural representation of the “Native American woman” and thus intended as a nod to some distorted notion of balanced representation. If this was the intention, we find it extremely condescending and insulting, not just to Indigenous groups calling for the removal of this monument, but to all who are interested observers and active participants in the RHH Project; in fact, it is an affront to all residents of this city who are the intended audience and who are tax-paying individuals supporting this project.

2. In watching a video recently published on the same webpage entitled “What is a monument,” we found the language and representation here to be extremely problematic and disturbing as a reflection of the city’s approach to the RHH.  The video describes La Jornada as such: “The artwork was intended to honor the founding families who entered the lands of the now-American Southwest from Mexico.”

Firstly, calling the settlers “founding families” already negates any supposed neutrality of the city’s position–no matter what the presumed intention behind the work was. This term is an insult to the Indigenous people who are the original inhabitants of this land and an insult to the Indigenous communities engaged in the RHH Project process.

Secondly, the video’s statement regarding Oñate’s entrance from Mexico is misleading. “Mexico” did not exist as a political entity during the late sixteenth and seventeenth century, the period being represented: the colonizers came from New Spain. This is an important distinction to make, so that your audience understands that Oñate and the conquistadors came in the name of the Spanish crown as part of a proselytizing, extractionist, and white supremacist project.

The above concerns may seem like minor issues of language. However, so much of the discord and conflict we have witnessed are due to a long tradition of misrepresentation of the historical record, from our school textbooks to public monuments and official representations. The City should be held to a high standard in all cases of historical representation, and especially this one. If the word “History” is to be included in the Race, History & Healing Project, we would expect the historical record to be communicated accurately.

Your website states: “The Race, History & Healing Project supports community-centered dialogue and input to inform community-led recommendations for the Oñate statue and La Jornada public art installation…” Indeed, our city has the opportunity to follow through on these admirable goals and to actually work to find “thoughtful solutions for difficult and complex issues.” We applaud the City’s commitment to the important work of equity and inclusion in partnership with the community. However, if the language used in the RHH is an indication of the theories and approaches grounding the project, we fear that it is bound to fail in achieving its goals. We strongly suggest that all city representatives involved in the RHH sit down for more meaningful dialogue with community members around anti-racism and anti-oppression. There are many community organizers in our city who can be valuable resources, starting with Kiran Katira and Diana Dorn-Jones with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond.

With the national uprising surrounding monuments and systemic racism in this country, we are witnessing a mass movement for accountability and dismantling of white supremacy within institutions at all levels of our society. It may sound surprising, but one can draw a direct line from the violent oppression of Oñate and the conquistadors to ongoing police brutality and carceral systems of the present day. Both represent agents of the state working to uphold white supremacist values whose goals are to supress Black, Indigenous, and people of color.

We thank you for your time and service to our city. We look forward to hearing your response to our concerns.

Sincerely,

ABQ Art Workers: Szu-Han Ho, Albuquerque, New Mexico Autumn Chacon, Albuquerque, New Mexico Scott Williams, Albuquerque, New Mexico Nanibah Chacon, Albuquerque, New Mexico

[philledwlife]

Nanibah Chacon

[cyclesecomural]

The Intentions for the Eco Mural project; •The garden aims to exist as a hybrid knowledge base, through its on site physicality. Giving entry to a environmental consciousness that bridges traditional methodology & narrative, making this accessible to a new generation to engender policy & advocacy of awareness of wellbeing. •Implement systems of advocacy through tangible means of factual awareness, culture & ethnicity, past & current use awareness an a dialogue around the ethics & values that connect us to each other & the land. •Acknowledge the cosmology of dreams plants and ceremony. •Revitalise wellness through a shifting paradigm, examining heritage and tradition in new framework that in essence, is going back to the future. •Prioritise knowledge as a necessity for wellbeing, environmental, cultural & spiritual oral histories as traditional information is passed through story. •See the landscape as a ritual food scape. Weeds as food & medicine, revitalising cultural, physical & spiritual connections between the environment & community for health and wellness.