The Rillito River Project

As a Purépecha, an indigenous citizen, I have understood what it is to honor our mother the earth through acts of ceremony and conscious caring of the terrain. The Art Lab adventure opens new ways in which I can directly participate in restoration and conservation as an act of intervention.

While at the ranch, we got to build two small gabions. This physical practical exercise made me appreciate the hard work and the emense effort that goes into this method of land restoration.

I contacted a colleague at UIUC and learned that carbon steel starts to loose it’s structural strength at 900 degrees F. The goal of my experiment is to heighten the awareness of the Bufflegrass invasion by visualizing it’s properties and opts strategy in taking over the Sonoran Desert.