Background: Nature is one of our greatest teachers: in creation,
destruction, renewal, and balance. Humanity has found ways to disrupt nature and impose
ourselves on the landscapes that shape our experience of life. As humans trying to
understand our relationship with nature, we have created harm and destruction to the
land directly. This destructive tendency carries over to how we experience natural
settings. Out of these interactions, nature in America has become deeply tied to
national identity and an individual sense of belonging; and the “other”
that is people of color is alienated. Spaces that should be healing, a reminder that we
are part of something greater, are instead unsettling and even dangerous to many who are
“other” in American society. and Keywords: environment, installation, people of color, fibers, ceramics,
papermaking, color, social constructs, nature, ocean, immigration, healing, growth,
interdisciplinary art, chromophobia, chromophilia, sculpture,
ecology.