Above a colorful bouquet of flowers, the body text reads, “‘To name the world as gift is to feel one’s membership in the web of reciprocity. It makes you happy—and it makes you accountable. . . In a gift economy, wealth is understood as having enough to share, and the practice for dealing with abundance is to give it away.’
-Robin Wall Kimmerer, The Serviceberry”
he heading reads, “Serviceberry”. Below, framed on both sides by sprigs of delicate pink serviceberry blossoms and vibrant red berries, the body text reads, “Serviceberry (Bozakamin in Potawatomi) is a bushy tree of deep importance to many eastern Indigenous nations. Serviceberry models reciprocity, with leaves foraged by deer and moose, flowers pollinated by bees and butterflies, and berries ripening in early summer.”
Flanked by pink serviceberry sprigs, a quote reads, “Ultimately, queerness invites us all, regardless of our identities, to be more undefined, unclear, transitional, merging, interdependent, cooperative, and nonhierarchical—a very fungal way of being. . . ”
“What if we bring, metaphorically, the swamp and the forest inside? What if we let their ways of being creep and expand and burble through our own minds, through our families, friendships, and institutions?
-Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian, Forest Euphoria: The Abounding Queerness of Nature
This artwork was inspired by teachers of the natural world like Robin Wall Kimmerer & Patricia Ononiwu Kaishian. Their lessons on interdependence & kinship guide our reflections on liberatory lessons from plants & animals.
