Indigenous Plants and Well-Being: A Conversation with Marika Alvarado and Will Wilson

Medicine Woman Marika Alvarado (Lipan Mescalero Apache) and Spring 2021 artist-in-residence Will Wilson (Diné/Navajo) join for a conversation about their collaboration for the exhibition Will Wilson: AIR / Survey. Together, they discuss their practices and the importance of maintaining Indigenous plant life, well-being, and the environment.

Will Wilson: Air / Survey is on view January 30 – March 27, 2021.

This event is co-sponsored by the Native American and Indigenous Studies Program at UT Austin. Additional thanks to Evie Carr for her assistance in cultivating the plants for this exhibition.
 

Bios

Marika Alvarado is a Lipan Mescalero Apache Medicine Woman based in Central Texas. She is the founder of Of the Earth Institute of Indigenous Cultures and Teachings, and is a direct descendant of generations of Medicine Women: traditional native healers of spirit and body, midwives, and plant medicine practitioners. Her mother, grandmother, and aunt handed the medicine down to her. As a child, she was taught the traditional way, as her family tended those who came to them in need. She believes in teaching all people who have the dedication and spiritual will to use these teachings as Mother Earth and the generations before her intended.

Will Wilson (b. 1969, San Francisco) received a BA from Oberlin College in 1993 and a Dissertation Tracked MFA from The University of New Mexico in 2002. Wilson has had solo exhibitions at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, Norman (2017); Texas Tech University School of Art, Lubbock (2015); The Wheelwright Museum (2014-15); Denver Art Museum (2013); the National Museum of the American Indian, New York (2006); and The Heard Museum, Phoenix (2004). He has participated in group exhibitions at Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven (2020); Krannert Art Museum, Champaign (2019-20); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2019-20); Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville (2018-19); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2018-19); Seattle Art Museum (2018); Portland Art Museum (2016); and the National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C. (2014). He is the recipient of a number of fellowships and awards, including the Mentor Artist Fellowship from the Native American Arts & Cultures Foundation (2018); the New Mexico Governor’s Excellence in Art Award (2017); the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in Photography (2016); the Rollin and Mary Ella King Fellowship from the School of Advanced Research (2013); and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Award for Painters and Sculptors (2010). Wilson has been Head of the Photography Program at Santa Fe Community College since 2014.