{"id":75109,"date":"2025-07-07T08:55:14","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T15:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=75109"},"modified":"2025-07-07T12:04:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T19:04:51","slug":"mna-digital-exhibition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/mna-digital-exhibition\/","title":{"rendered":"How to embrace plants, the land and your neighbors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indigenous territories contain 80% of the world\u2019s remaining biodiversity and a deep well of native plant knowledge. What if that knowledge could save our communities and our environment?\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Flagstaff-area residents and visitors can dig into that question when they explore a new digital exhibition on community food resilience, created by faculty and students at NAU. The exhibition, titled \u201c<\/span>Stories of Resilience & Diversity on the Colorado Plateau<\/span><\/a>,\u201d is presented alongside the in-person plant exhibit \u201c<\/span>Shifting Life Zones\u201d at the Museum of Northern Arizona<\/span><\/a>\u2014but it\u2019s also available to view online anywhere, anytime.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStories of Resilience & Diversity\u201d dives into how plants and community have always been deeply intertwined for Indigenous peoples in this region\u2014and how we could all benefit from learning more about native plants on the Colorado Plateau, which is home to more than 300 species that exist nowhere else.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Indigenous and land-based communities have generational knowledge of how to live in right relationship with a place. It <\/span>shouldn’t<\/span> then be a surprise that lands under the care and decision-making authority of Indigenous communities also support higher levels of biodiversity,”<\/span><\/span>\u00a0said <\/span><\/span>Rosemary Logan<\/span><\/span><\/strong>, an ass<\/span>ociate<\/span> teaching professor in the School of Earth and <\/span>Sustainability<\/span> who led the creation of the digital exhibition. <\/span><\/span>“So much time is spent learning about the destruction that humans have caused to the planet. I wanted to bring to life for my students the ways\u00a0humans have <\/span>participated<\/span> in the caretaking and healing of the planet. I wanted to give them pathways to action.”<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She was right: In Fall 2022, while teaching a class of juniors, the former MNA staffer mentored them as they enthusiastically developed an exhibition proposal. After viewing the museum\u2019s permanent collection, speaking with museum leaders and gathering research on biodiversity on the Colorado Plateau, the students pitched their exhibition idea to MNA staff.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kristan Hutchison, MNA\u2019s director of public engagement, loved the students\u2019 idea for a digital complement to the museum\u2019s \u201cShifting Life Zones\u201d gallery.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is so much to say about plants and people on the Colorado Plateau that we can\u2019t fit it all into a single gallery, so we were really happy to include \u2018Stories of Resilience & Diversity\u2019 on a computer within the gallery,\u201d Hutchison said. \u201cWe hope that both exhibits will inspire people to help plants, whether it\u2019s by removing invasive weeds or tending crops in a community garden. People have always depended on plants, and what we do impacts the plants too.\u201d\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In Spring 2023, students in another of Logan\u2019s classes got to work refining and enriching the exhibition text. That fall, two <\/span>Interns-to-Scholars<\/span><\/a> students continued the work. Logan credits two Americorps volunteers\u2014<\/span>Kira Farmer<\/span><\/b>, now an adjunct faculty member, and <\/span>Shonri Begay<\/span><\/b>, a master\u2019s student in communications\u2014for taking the project to the finish line in Fall 2024.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Together, Logan, Farmer and Begay built what she calls a \u201ccollaborative story map\u201d\u2014an interactive website that lets visitors explore traditional Indigenous homelands, tour the diverse biomes of the Colorado Plateau, listen to interviews with local gardeners and Indigenous leaders and learn more about how growing plants can help foster community and connection.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In one interview filmed by Begay, Flagstaff Mountain-Town Market founder Meg Kabotie-Adakai shared memories of gardening with her Hopi father. She recalled how they planted the \u201cthree sisters\u201d\u2014corn, beans and squash\u2014just as their ancestors have for centuries.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s real human stuff: Moving your body, knowing where your food comes from, eating well and just knowing you\u2019re part of this amazing, beautiful web of life,\u201d Kabotie-Adakai said. \u201cTo love this planet and love the living things on it and love your fellow humans\u2026it makes this life worth living.\u201d\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That resonates with Logan, who made lifelong friends and learned more about Indigenous food resilience when she discovered MNA\u2019s <\/span>Colton Community Garden<\/span><\/a>, a volunteer-run space full of native edible and medicinal plants.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cColton really became a refuge for me during the pandemic,\u201d Logan said. \u201cWhen people first come here, they go, \u2018Oh my god, I didn\u2019t know this was here; I didn\u2019t know you could actually grow food in Flagstaff.\u2019 Then they become part of the community, and they feel this sense of belonging, and the whole community becomes stronger. I think that\u2019s what I want people to take away from this: The more connection\u2014through place, culture and food\u2014the more resilient we will be.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n