Will Wilson

Will Wilson
Diné, born 1969, lives Santa Fe, NM
Mexican Hat Disposal Cell, Triptych, Halchita, Utah, Navajo Nation, 2019
Archival pigment prints
Purchased with funds from The Phyllis Cannon Wattis Endowment Fund, UMFA2022.8.3A-C

  • This triptych is part of Wilson’s ongoing photographic survey of the people, land, and remediation efforts connected to over 500 abandoned uranium mines that are contaminating the Navajo Nation, where Wilson grew up and where his family lives today. Historically, Euro-American landscape photography has represented the American West as vast, uninhabited, and full of resources for capital gain, but Wilson’s photography counters that problematic myth and, in his words, empowers “Diné people to re-story their narrative.”

  • Wilson’s photographs document a traumatic history of irresponsible and racist energy production that continues to be a source of environmental, cultural, and economic harm for generations of Diné people. Uranium mining boomed on the Navajo Nation between 1940 and 1970 due to the Unites States government’s demand for atomic energy. But, as the Cold War petered out, mining companies abandoned their mines and left uncontained toxic material to disperse in the air, soil, and water. Exposure to uranium causes kidney damage and lung, bone, and liver cancer. It may also increase risk for high blood pressure, autoimmune diseases, and reproductive problems.

  • This 68-acre monolithic structure was built by the U.S. Department of Energy in the 1990s to contain 4.4 million dry tons of radioactive material, including the remnants of two uranium mill sites, the rubble of local buildings that were constructed with contaminated tailings, and a school. Hundreds of abandoned uranium mines and contaminated structures await assessment and remediation on the Navajo Nation.

To learn more about Wilson’s ongoing photographic survey and its related educational curriculum, visit the digital exhibition Mining the West.

Will Wilson
Diné, nacido en 1969, vive en Santa Fe, NM
Mexican Hat Disposal Cell, Triptych, Halchita, Utah, Navajo Nation, 2019
Impresiones de pigmento de archivo

  • Este tríptico forma parte de la investigación fotográfica permanente que hace Wilson de la gente, la tierra y las tareas de remediación vinculadas a las más de 500 minas abandonadas de uranio que están contaminando a la Nación Navajo, donde Wilson creció y donde vive su familia hoy. Históricamente, la fotografía de paisajes euroamericana ha representado al Oeste de Estados Unidos como vasto, deshabitado y rico en recursos para ganancias de capital; la fotografía de Wilson desmiente ese mito problemático y, según él lo expresa, concede el poder al “pueblo Diné, para reelaborar la historia de su narrativa.”

  • Las fotografías de Wilson documentan la historia traumática de una industria productora de energía que actuó de manera racista e irresponsable, y que continúa siendo una fuente de daños ambientales, culturales y económicos para generaciones del pueblo Diné. La minería de uranio tuvo su auge en la Nación Navajo entre 1940 y 1970, debido a la demanda de ese mineral por parte del gobierno estadounidense para la energía atómica. Cuando la Guerra Fría entró en su fase final, las compañías mineras abandonaron sus minas, permitiendo que materiales tóxicos se dispersasen sin contención en el aire, el suelo y el agua. La exposición al uranio causa daño a los riñones y cáncer de pulmón, huesos e hígado. También aumenta el riesgo de hipertensión, enfermedades autoinmunes y problemas del aparato reproductivo.

  • Esta estructura monolítica de 68 acres fue construida por el Departamento de Energía de Estados Unidos en la década de 1990, para contener 4.4 millones de toneladas secas de material radioactivo, incluyendo los restos de dos molinos de uranio, los escombros de edificios locales construidos con relaves contaminados y una escuela. En la Nación Navajo cientos de minas de uranio abandonadas y estructuras contaminadas esperan ser evaluadas y sus efectos remediados.

Para conocer más sobre la investigación fotográfica que realiza Wilson y su plan educativo relacionado, visita la exhibición digital Mining the West.

Will Wilson
Diné, born 1969, lives Santa Fe, NM
AIR Lab (Auto Immune Response Laboratory), 2005–ongoing
Steel, wood, plants, lights, books, and various media
Courtesy the artist

  • As part of Wilson’s ongoing series Auto Immune Response, AIR Lab considers an apocalyptic future in a toxic landscape. Today, natural resource extraction, particularly that of uranium, disproportionately affects Diné people by contaminating their land, water, and air. How far from reality is this future that Wilson imagines?

  • A site for regrowth, AIR Lab provides resources and Indigenous knowledge that offer an alternate path forward. This post-apocalyptic take on the sacred Diné dwelling, the hogan, is a greenhouse for growing the Four Corners potato and plant species that remove heavy metals and toxins from the soil. Previously, AIR Lab has been used to grow dye, pollinator, and indigenous food species. While warning of a possible toxic future, AIR Lab is also a sanctuary that symbolizes survival, resourcefulness, and hope.

  • Take a moment to rest and learn in AIR Lab. Please handle the books with care. Thank you for not touching the plants.

Phytoremediation

  • phyto - of a plant; relating to plants

  • remediation - the action of remedying something, particularly reversing or stopping environmental damage

Phytoremediation takes advantage of natural plant processes to clean up contaminated environments. Much like plants take in carbon dioxide, water, and nutrients, plant species used for phytoremediation are able to take in and remove contaminants from the air, water, and soil and store them in their roots, stems, and leaves, as well as convert them to less harmful chemicals and vapors.

Phytoremediation systems, often employing communities of fungi or microorganisms alongside plants, can help clean up many contaminants including pollution, pesticides, explosives, oil, and metals. Plants also help prevent wind, rain, and groundwater from carrying contaminants away from toxic sites.

Phytoremediation requires less equipment and labor than other containment and removal methods and has the added benefits of fixing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis, controlling soil erosion, reducing noise, and making a site more attractive.

Phytoremediation is an economic, environment-friendly, and efficient approach for management of soils contaminated by heavy metals, such as uranium. Uranium is one of the most toxic radionuclide contaminants and is dispersing in the environment due to the nuclear energy industry. For instance, more than 500 abandoned uranium mines have been mapped on the Navajo Nation, which covers approximately 27,000 square miles in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. With recent developments, phytoremediation has the potential to become an integral part of the management of uranium-contaminated environments.

Four Corners Potato (Solanum jamesii) The Four Corners potato, a small wild potato species, has sustained Indigenous people in the American Southwest for 11,000 years, far longer than any other potato use in North America.

Four Corners Potato (Solanum jamesii) It has been used, transported, and cultivated widely across the Four Corners region by the Ancestral Pueblo, Ute, Diné, Hopi, Zuni, and Paiute, yet the scientific community is only beginning to understand its nutritional and cultural significance.

Four Corners Potato (Solanum jamesii) It is resistant to blight, the potato beetle, drought, heat, and cold. It can be stored for eight years if refrigerated and is packed with more protein, fiber, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, and vitamin B1 than the common white potato.

Four Corners Potato (Solanum jamesii) Cynthia Wilson, a Diné nutritionist and traditional foods advocate, is working alongside researchers at the University of Utah’s Red Butte Garden and the Natural History Museum of Utah to re-matriate the potato to Native communities. Wilson attributes a generational gap in knowledge about the potato to forced assimilation, displacement, and cultural genocide. But by collecting ancestral knowledge from Diné elders and experimenting with planting techniques, the group is helping Native farmers, including agricultural students at Monument Valley High School, to grow the ancient food again.

Will Wilson
Diné, nacido en 1969, vive en Santa Fe, NM
AIR Lab (Auto Immune Response Laboratory), 2005–actualidad
Acero, madera, plantas, luces, libros y diversos medios
Cortesía del artista

  • Como parte de la serie contemporánea de Wilson Auto Immune Response (Respuesta autoinmune), AIR Lab examina la posibilidad de un futuro apocalíptico en un paisaje tóxico. Hoy, la extracción de los recursos naturales, particularmente la del uranio, afecta de manera desproporcionada al pueblo Diné, al contaminar su tierra, agua y aire. ¿Qué tan lejos de la realidad se encuentra el futuro que imagina Wilson?

  • Un sitio para la regeneración, AIR Lab proporciona recursos y conocimiento indígena que ofrecen un camino alternativo hacia el futuro. Esta visión postapocalíptica de la vivienda sagrada de los Diné, el hogan, es un invernadero destinado al cultivo de la papa Four Corners y otras especies vegetales que eliminan los metales pesados y las toxinas del suelo. Anteriormente, AIR Lab se ha usado para cultivar especies para tintes, polinizadoras y alimenticias indígenas. Al mismo tiempo que advierte sobre un posible futuro tóxico, AIR Lab también es un santuario que simboliza la supervivencia, el ingenio y la esperanza.

  • Tómate un momento para descansar y aprender en AIR Lab. Usa los libros con cuidado. Gracias por no tocar las plantas.