Family
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Mother, if I had a jar of soil from your garden, I would carry it with me for the rest… Read more.
1–2 minutes -
I got my great-grandfather’s soil today with my life partner and one of my very best friends, Jose Faus. We… Read more.
1–2 minutes -
I met Scott LaMascus last night in Oklahoma City at McBride Center Writers, the generative workshop he and Aaron Pogue… Read more.
3–4 minutes -
Speaking of loneliness, I once played with light as a friend. When my brother-in-law, who was much older than me and a physicist,… Read more.
1–2 minutes -
I found a document that my paternal great-grandfather dictated for the Indian and Pioneer Historical Collection in 1937. It turns… Read more.
1–2 minutes -
I could have called my family by its dirt. I could have called it by its blood. But it’s oil… Read more.
1–2 minutes -
My manuscript Crude was shortlisted for the Lightscatter Press Book Award, judged this year by Heid E. Erdrich. I’m from… Read more.
2–3 minutes -
My father and his friends destroyed my childhood innocence. The poet who sexually assaulted me destroyed the innocence I reclaimed… Read more.
1–2 minutes
PROCESS
- Map and Research: Investigate the historical, geological, and ecological context of each collection site or reverse the direction, mapping sites based on ancestral and historical narratives.
- Forage: Gather natural materials ethically, respectfully, and with permission.
- Transform: Process foraged materials into custom mediums and physical resources for art-making.
- Weave: Track the stories held within the land, braiding personal, ancestral, and ecological histories.
- Create: Generate studies and finished artwork informed by the sites and physically composed of the materials collected.
- Limits: Not all sites will be safe or accessible, which means some spaces cannot be entered, and some stories will remain incomplete. An empty container can signify these omissions.
purpose
ethics
Responsible Exploration: Committing to mindful presence, permission-based foraging, and minimal-impact exploration on every site.
Meaning
Embodied Storytelling: Engaging in sensory, place-based creation that connects the maker and viewer to the specific location and to the physical earth.
Reclamation: Unearthing and honoring lost, fractured, or overlooked histories embedded in the landscape.
Material Transformation: Celebrating the alchemy of turning raw, gathered earth into tangible, expressive art.
community
Public Education: Sharing the ecological and historical narratives of the sites to foster a deeper collective awareness.
Active Participation: Creating opportunities for community participation, engagement, and shared connection through the work.
Dana Henry Martin 