Our SW Immersion Trip takes as its inspiration the potential range of the resilient “lobo,” or Mexican gray wolf, a species that has rebounded from the edge of extinction to inhabit the wildest pockets of SW New Mexico and SE Arizona. Humans hunted and trapped the wolves until they were absent from the United States. A government reintroduction program has helped them gain a fragile foothold amidst continued persecution among the ranching communities of the Southwest. Humanity’s influence on the demise and survival of nonhuman communities will be a central theme to this trip.
Our month together will be comprised of a sequence of five-to-seven day backcountry trips, with both backpacking and base-camping. Between each segment, we will engage in site visits and meet with visiting activists, artists, and researchers. Along with topical content around wolves, rewilding, and the rich cultural and ecological history of this region, where the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts overlap, our curriculum examines the scope of artistic research, challenging each participant to craft an experiential research method to support their work. This course builds on our Summer Immersion program, but it is not required to attend that trip first and, in contrast, our SW Immersion is a little less on-the-move, and more focused on research methodologies and the creation or modeling of finished work. It is appropriate for anyone in good physical health, regardless of prior camping or backpacking experience.
Participants: Julia Blume, Fadwa Bouziane, Joan Handwerg, Carl Harders, Hazel Hutchins, Kelly Moody, Kyla Ohayon, Mona Law.
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