I have a variety of different topics to cover in this post, so I will provide a general update followed by labeled sections to elaborate on specified recent happenings in greater detail.
I. The General Dispatch
Over the course of the last seven days I have found my hands and time quite full. Having a chance to work with three different nations(the Hopi, the Hualapai, and the Navajo) in recent days has provided a broader range of perspective as I seek to evaluate my progress regarding my intended search.I have enthusiastically jumped into a position as an interning botanical illustrator with a Hopi woman named Phyllis and one of her assistants named Jessa who run AERA(Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association). I have found myself harvesting vast amounts of new knowledge and insight into both myself and the external world as I have been invited to take part in plant walks and ethno-botany workshops under the guidance of a sharply trained, deeply passionate, and spiritually dedicated teachings from Phyllis and Jessa. The information I am picking up comes from many different sources and angles, as the guidance of Phyllis and Jessa not only provides deep scientific understanding such as plant binomial nomenclatures and different medicinal or subsistence-based uses of plant life, but their generous language and shared stories have also provided a sound spiritual and emotional dimension to this project and have really made my experience nothing short of vivid and life-altering so far. I had no idea that I would find myself so eager to learn about the complex spiritual and utilitarian connection to plant life known as "Ethno-Botany".
Ethnobotany-
This is a term that I have only recently come across, but I have found myself extremely interested in pursuing this field of study. Ethnobotany encompasses all the traditional and customary interactions between people and the plant world such as the use of plants for food, medicine, and ceremonial practice. For instance, corn is widely considered a sacred plant here primarily because it has been such a steady staple food for hundreds of years much like wheat has been historically considered a reliable source of sustenance for those of European descent. But aside from traditional agricultural use, ground up cornmeal is used to offer prayers to the plant world before harvesting medicinal plants in order to gain the plant's consent for harvest while also insuring that its healing powers will be strong.
Regardless of whether or not one believes that humans and plants have the ability to communicate on a spiritual plane, the customs and rituals unarguably provide a credible point of meditation on the complex relations of all living things to the ecology that supports and sustains their existence.
Aside from delving into this new and fascinating world of ethnobotany and botanical illustration, I have been working with the Navajo to help gain support and awareness in the city of Flagstaff about various Human Rights abuses that are still occurring rampantly to this day.
The green and white sticker featured above that reads "Saves the Peaks"(more information below) is just one of the many ongoing battles between Native tribes and the American government. Recently the supreme court rejected to even hear the case of The Save the Peaks Coalition , and many locals here are seeing that decision as clear evidence of the inefficacy of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. As a consequence, many feel betrayed by the justice system that is supposed to protect human rights and feel that their rights and customs as a nation and ethnic group have simply been trampled over. Simply put, rather than feeling secured and protected by American law and constitution, many in this community feel excluded, harassed, and oppressed by those same laws which have come to be seen as mere symbols of distant American ideals of justice rather than its reality.
The emotional effect of working with and living around a group of people in our own country who legitimately feel that they are victims of racism, genocide, and unjust displacement has certainly brought about large amounts of emotional dissonance and painful confrontations with what these issues look, sound, and feel like in actual lived experience. I often can identify with status of "other" as my own bloodlines leave me hyphened 'Iranian-American'. Though I have been raised in America, I have definitely felt pressure to conform to a set and standard way of viewing the world that has come to be called the "American Dream". At a recent vigil and rally I saw that dream fall and shatter on a concrete sidewalk outside of city hall where I stood observing a frail and elderly pair of Navajo women crying as they offered prayers to the sky with a wooden flute which seemed to be a calling for help to save what at least 13 different indigenous nations in this area consider to be especially sacred land, as in the birth point of all existence. That incident demonstrated to me, along with a vast amount of others, that the situation here is clearly an issue of human rights abuses in the form of religious intolerance. Again, more information posted below for those interested.
The scope and direction of my project has shifted considerably from the initial planning stages, but that is something I had anticipated. I have taken on several new roles out here in my project. Primarily I would say that I am still relying heavily on the arts as a means of connecting and getting involved with different Native groups here, and so far that avenue has been extremely effective. I have been astonishingly well received, to the point where I feel that I have already made some life-long friendships that will only continue to challenge my perspective and open new doors of understanding. Also, my work as an artist has allowed me to connect in various ways whether it be through the intense study of botanical illustration or volunteering to help a local info shop here with publicity and public awareness events by helping to design fliers and posters. In a way, I see my work here as a collision between visual artistry, botany, anthropology, and social justice work. The situation is complex and challenging, but also extremely rewarding and enlivening as I have met some amazing people and have been welcomed into a beautiful community of intersecting cultures.
II. Community Mural Project: "What Flows Beneath Our Feet"
Last weekend I had the opportunity to take part in a community mural training workshop led by a highly trained mural artist named Dave Lowenstein who has collaborated on some impressive works all over the country. The workshop was open to the public for the price of admission, and was jointly sponsored by The Black Sheep Art Collective and Native Movement. We started off with a discussion concerning the history of murals and their significance as a way for communities to visually express what is collectively important to the people of a city or town in a public setting. Murals have served as a means for dialogue, discussion, and public expression for thousands of years, so having that context frame the experience really helped bring everyone together.
The three photographs just above document the brainstorming phase of the mural project. Members of the Flagstaff community and local Navajo communities came together and formed the idea of "What Flows Beneath Our Feet" as the central motif guiding the story of the mural. The designated location for the mural happened to situate itself right above a buried water way known locally as Rio de Flag. The waterway sometimes used to hold rushing stream waters from rainfall during monsoon season and from tributaries trailing down from natural springs located high up on the San Francisco Peaks, an important mountain range that forms a natural land barrier right on the edge of the city. Many in our group expressed outrage over the fact that one of the only historically reliable sources of water for the town and surrounding ecosystem had simply been buried under concrete to make way for more city infrastructure and commercial space especially considering that in the desert, water can sometimes be quite scarce.
The idea of the buried river, a source of life for all living things in this area, served as the perfect symbol through which to project a wide array of community concerns. To list a few of the hundreds we listed off, Environment, Public Health, Ancestry, Public Art, Water, and Collaboration were topical ideas that helped generate imagery for the mural. Check out the finished product!
III. Explorations with AERA
Here you can see my most recently completed botanical illustration. Gamble Oak is very high in tannins and works as an astringent. Navajo traditionally have used this plant by making a tea,soaking a cloth in the tea, and then applying the cloth to treat burns and wounds, helping blood vessels to constrict. The acorns, I've been told, can be eaten, but because they are so high in tannins, they will taste extremely bitter, enough to make your cheeks pucker and to make your tongue feel like your mouth is coated with granules of dry sand; all that pleasantry unless, of course, the acorns are treated through a repeated boiling process that releases some of the abundant tannins and sweetens the meat of the oak nut.
As mentioned, a large portion of my time has been spent under the expert guidance of Phyllis and Jessa. On top of helping to illustrate plants for a book that Phyllis is working on, we have recently been preparing for plant walks they offer the community. A plant walk usually entails a guided leader pointing out medicinal and edible plants in the field to others while explaining their uses and the proper etiquette and ritual for harvesting a plant.
Last weekend we went out to the Hualapai reservation to help facilitate a field workshop on ethnobotany for children living on the reservation. We were accompanied by a professional botanist named Wendy who came along to help demonstrate how to take samples of plants for plant pressings. Pressings are dried samples of the plant that have been held flat under the pressure of a binding device. Pressings are then labeled with each plant's scientific name, common name, tribal name, exact GPS location of its find, date of its find, and its traditional uses. After labeling is complete, the pressings are stored in an Herbarium, which is basically just a massive cabinet for organizing plant samples. These samples are vitally important for the study, research, and inventory of plant life endemic to this region. They are used to simultaneously preserve and legitimatize native uses of the plant. Furthermore, the samples can be used to chart the growth of certain species, to monitor invasive species, and to allow for continued study of the physical and chemical characteristics of the plants.
I was overwhelmed with the enthusiasm everyone in this workshop had for the plants in the area. I had so much fun learning that I ended being surprised with how much information I had gathered simply because I had absorbed it all so passively, as if it were simply the most enjoyable thing to do at the time. We found several rare species and were able to take beautiful samples of their flowers. Everyone was noticeably excited, singing and praising the land given the fortunate circumstances. On top of striking luck and crossing some rare species of cactus out in Hualapai territory, we were even more fortunate to find them at the exact time they were flowering, given that the window for the blooming and fruiting stage of most cacti is relatively short and dependent on the shifting seasonal weather conditions of the surrounding climate.
In the process of our workshop I learned vasts amounts of information regarding how to identify specific medicinal plants and how to use them to treat equally specific ailments. From a botanical perspective, I learned how to take plant samples and make good pressings of them for scientific use and future study. And from an anthropological viewpoint, I picked up on the importance of ritual, reciprocity, and respect for the land and the life it bears. I felt for the first time, I was immersed in community that highly valued a connection to the environment on several levels, namely for the land's gifts of sustenance, shelter, and medicine to all living things. I was made acutely aware of the importance of respecting the land and plants and the significance of giving back in order to sustain the fragile balance of life.
IV. Silence is a Weapon
The Photograph featured above shows the sacred San Francisco Peaks. As mentioned earlier, at least 13 different nations indigenous to this area consider the peaks and their whole mountain range sacred, in many traditions, as the point from which their ancestors and all of life originated. In addition to their cultural significance, the peaks provide a thriving ecosystem for the area and are home to many different plants and animal species also endemic to the area. A ski resort called Snow Bowl on the north side of the peaks is planning to expand its property which would result in the clear-cutting of hundreds of acres of the mountain slope. The same resort is trying to authorize the use of recycled sewage water to make artificial snow and extend the ski season.
To the nations who consider the peaks sacred, such actions are seen as absolutely defiling to their respective customs, religions, and beliefs. The city of Flagstaff authorized Snow Bowl's plans, but there is a very large and very active movement here that has been fervidly protesting snow bowl and the inefficacy of Flagstaff's municipal government through public vigils and written letters. Moving far beyond mere political ranting, the movement here seems to focus on the concrete and practical details of how to sustain as a culture pushing back against ongoing pressure to conform and assimilate. Last autumn's state ruling that gave the green light to snow bowl's proposed expansion was appealed and brought up to be potentially heard by the supreme court; however, two weeks ago we received news reporting that the supreme court denied to hear the case. It feels as if concerns of freedom among the various indigenous nations here have yet again been quietly ignored. I have gathered that in the eyes of some, the recent unfolding of the case has created a scenario where recreation for Americans has trumped religious freedom for Natives.
The significance of this denial is huge for Native Americans all across the country as it serves to point out the limitations and illusions of protection offered under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act passed 1993 which was put in place to prevent laws and legislation that would trample the customary beliefs and ways of life practiced by Native American Nations. This sends out a loud and clear message that the spiritual-religious concerns and entire basis for understanding life still so steadily revered and observed by the nations indigenous to this area can easily be made irrelevant by those in power in order to make way for private industry, the ultimate and obviated priority for the town, state, and now the federal government.
The video above features 3 Navajo siblings, activists, and band mates performing a song in Navajo before their performance last night at a rally and fundraiser for various grass roots movements coming together against Snow Bowl. Live, their songs, words, and testimony visibly amplified the spirits of a predominantly native crowd. The emotional atmosphere was quite complex, presenting the somber aspects of essentially being denied human rights that were supposedly already established in US court of law while also providing a marked vibe of empowerment amongst the community that inspired conversations of self-determination, respect of their prideful heritage, and an overwhelming will not to lay defeated by despair.
