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by Rowan Johnson
SOU Class of 2025, Creative Writing

Heather Lee Birdsong, National Sacrifice Area, 2023, gouache on hot-press paper, courtesy of the artist

Ginkgo

Ginkgo trees are known to be symbols of longevity, love, duality, and peace. Records of the species date back 290 million years ago, with the modern Ginkgo genus appearing around 65 million years ago. It has long stood as a recognizable tree in China and moved through the rest of East Asia as time progressed. Ginkgoes are known to be resilient plants. Some of the most famous Ginkgoes are in Hiroshima, Japan. Known as Hibaku Jumoku, literally “A-bomb trees” in Japanese, these six Ginkgo trees survived the U.S. atomic bombing of Hiroshima despite their proximity to ground zero (between 3,280 and 6561 feet). Seeds and seedlings from these Gingkoes and the other 164 other trees that survived helped repopulate Hiroshima’s flora. Their extensive history is often called upon in art. Painter Heather Lee Birdsong uses the distinct leaf shape in the shadow of her piece National Sacrifice Area to represent the Violence U.S. forces enacted on the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The tree stands before a billboard showing an explosion. The desert landscape is the Nevada Nuclear Test Site, a place where above and below-ground nuclear testing occurred from 1951 until 1992. Learn more about the Ginkgo trees of Hiroshima with the link below, and find National Sacrifice Area in the Heiter Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art

https://japaninsides.com/the-tenacious-ginkgo-trees-of-hiroshima-38820

Ben Buswell, Gate, 2023, embellished emulsion print, courtesy of the SMA Permanent Collection

The Columbia River

One of the longest rivers in the United States, the Columbia River has been the site of groundbreaking technological feats and tragedy. Many Native tribes spanning what is now called Washington state, Oregon, Idaho, and British Columbia hold this river as a source of culture and life. Because of its connection to the Pacific Ocean and the variety of natural resources along it, the Columbia River became a major point of interest for European-American settlers. Industry resulting from the forced colonization of the land led to both Native communities and the natural environment suffering. Today, strides have been made to right these wrongs, including conservation efforts of Chinook salmon populations and research into renewable energy. Artist Ben Buswell was interested in the turbulent history of the Columbia River, as well as other natural water features that have been imbued with cultural and physical importance. His work in the Schneider Museum of Art’s Main gallery captures these sites in haunting ways. Through abrasions and reorientation, Buswell recreates photos of rippling water into an array of gateways and experiences. Learn more about the Columbia River with the link below, and Ben Buswell’s work in our winter exhibition Other World/s.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/six-sovereigns-fighting-columbia-river-201029345.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall

Dustin Yellin, Ring of Fire, 2021, glass, collage, and acrylic, courtesy of the SMA Permanent Collection

Psychogeography

Psychogeography (psychological geography) is a theory developed around the early 1950s by members of the French radical groups Letterist International and Situationist International. Influenced by Marxist and anarchy theory and art traditions of Dadaism and surrealism, psychogeography explores urban environments through the lens of interpersonal connections and arbitrary routes. One of the main pillars is called dérive. Literally translating to “drift” in French, dérive asks participants to go on unplanned and unstructured strolls of areas (usually urban) while ignoring their relationship with the space and social environment. This could look like taking a different route than you usually would, going against the flow of foot traffic, or trying to see your everyday surroundings as something unfamiliar. Dérives break up monotonous and predictable experiences under late capitalism, recreating a connection between the physical body and the space it inhabits without the structures and habits imposed on it. Artist Dustin Yellin uses this idea in his piece Ring of Fire. Through collage elements, Yellin asks viewers to redefine their relationship to familiar images by breaking them apart and putting them next to others. A close look shows the individual pictures, but a step back reveals the larger paths and narratives. Learn more about psychogeography with the link below, and find Ring of Fire in the Entry Gallery of the Schneider Museum of Art.

https://theconversation.com/psychogeography-a-way-to-delve-into-the-soul-of-a-city-78032

https://www.dustinyellin.com/projects/psychogeographies

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The Schneider Museum of Art is located within the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples who lived here since time immemorial. These Tribes were displaced during rapid Euro-American colonization, the Gold Rush, and armed conflict between 1851 and 1856. In the 1850s, discovery of gold and settlement brought thousands of Euro-Americans to their lands, leading to warfare, epidemics, starvation, and villages being burned. In 1853 the first of several treaties were signed, confederating these Tribes and others together – who would then be referred to as the Rogue River Tribe. These treaties ceded most of their homelands to the United States, and in return they were guaranteed a permanent homeland reserved for them. At the end of the Rogue River Wars in 1856, these Tribes and many other Tribes from western Oregon were removed to the Siletz Reservation and the Grand Ronde Reservation. Today, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde Community of Oregon (https://www.grandronde.org) and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (http://www.ctsi.nsn.us/) are living descendants of the Takelma, Shasta, and Latgawa peoples of this area. We encourage you to learn about the land you reside on, and to join us in advocating for the inherent sovereignty of Indigenous people.
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