“Spirit of the Land: Artists Honor Avi Kwa Ame” fortifies the work of activists—including the show’s curators, Checko Salgado, Kim Garrison Means and Mikayla Whitmore—who catalyzed the introduction of a congressional bill this year that would designate Avi Kwa Ame (Mojave for “Spirit Mountain”) and its surrounding 443,671 acres of public lands in Southern Nevada a national monument. Without such designation the region, considered sacred by over a dozen local tribes, could be irreversibly harmed by tourists, mining and industrial “green” (wind and solar) energy activities; with the designation, tribes and other local communities would be meaningfully consulted in land use proposals.

Through allied modes of storytelling, this evolving traveling exhibition reflects the coalition strategy of the advocacy efforts it supports. Participating storytellers include artists, scientists, tribal elders, members of increasingly varied communities and nature itself; the voices and works highlighted in a given iteration reflect its venue and local community. Having germinated earlier this year at community spaces in Nevada, the show reaches a national register through The Doyle, where visitors are invited to recognize that imperiled land and ecosystems around Avi Kwa Ame (forty miles of which border Southern California) parallel similarly imperiled regions nationwide.

“Spirit of the Land: Artists Honor Avi Kwa Ame” installation view, 2022. Image courtesy of The Doyle.

The twenty-three artists or artist teams featured in The Doyle exhibition (out of over fifty in the overall exhibition to date) share their tenderly personal relationships with the region through a range of media. The root narrative comes through a painting by Fort Mojave Tribe elder Paul Jackson, who, along with the ten Yuman-speaking tribes of the Mojave, reveres Avi Kwa Ame as the ancient origin of all life on earth. “In the First Times” (2022) depicts a serene sky above the desert landscape populated peacefully with different forms of animal and plant life, and illustrates his tribe’s belief that they are charged by their creator to protect the sacred air, land, water and life in the region, and that all forms of life did and can live harmoniously together.

The misperception of the desert as a desolate wasteland is supplanted in the exhibition by a symphony of stories that channel the desert’s frequencies and rhythms—ripples (of pondwater), echoes (of wind) and dreamlike hazes (of heat)—to illustrate the reverberating interconnectedness of all things from the microscopic to monumental, cosmic to mystical, across billions of years and miles. Through Paula Jacoby-Garrett’s “55%” (2022), we become aware of the numerous desert species that depend on the underrated Screwbean Mesquite plant, as well as our responsibility for its dramatic decline (to 55% of its former count). Likewise, through a sprawling mountain mural made by various artists out of Christmas decorations left by tourists on juniper and pinyon trees in the area (and often mistaken for food by animals), we are reminded that the desert is not our blank canvas to be embellished or owned, but rather a site teeming with life to be listened to and respected. Community-sourced postcards addressed to U.S. government officials in support of advocacy efforts invite visitors to pen love letters to the region and other public lands, making us one of the show’s storytellers, too.

Spirit of the Land: Artists Honor Avi Kwa Ame
On view through December 1, 2022
Frank M. Doyle Arts Pavilion
2701 Fairview Road
Costa Mesa, CA 92626