Project
Mallery Quetawki is creating paintings and ceramic works using natural pigments and materials collected traditionally from flux tower sites in the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, NM. By integrating scientific data patterns and Indigenous knowledge, Mallery’s art conveys ecological and cultural stories of dryland ecosystems.
Artist Bio
Mallery Quetawki is a communications and Outreach specialist with the Community Environmental Health Program at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy. Mallery has used art to translate scientific ideas, health impacts and research on uranium mines that are currently undergoing study in several Indigenous communities. Her work titled, “Our Cultures, Our Languages” is displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in New York City in the Grounded in Clay exhibit in the American Wing through June 2024. Mallery also has a large-scale mural titled, “Morning Prayer”, on permanent display at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center which depicts the history of the Zuni People from Creation to modern times. Other noted work was an interactive Google Doodle that kicked off Native American Heritage Month on November 1, 2021. Discover more of Mallery’s work at wakelet.com/@CEHP_Artist and follow @m.quetawki.art.
Science Collaboration
Research in the Litvak Lab focuses on understanding the primary mechanisms regulating carbon, energy and water fluxes across ecosystems or landscape units across the Southwest and how these fluxes vary in response to changes in climate, vegetation, soil characteristics, and disturbance regime. Semi‐arid biomes occupy approximately 40% of the global terrestrial surface and contain almost twice the carbon stored in temperate forest ecosystems. Despite the large area and carbon stores in these ecosystems, a lack of research has led to large uncertainties in estimates for semiarid regions such as the Southwestern US. To reduce these uncertainties, a major focus in Livak’s research group is running the New Mexico elevation gradient cluster of Ameriflux eddy covariance tower sites.
News and Activities
September 4, 2024: Artist presentation, Ameriflux annual meeting, Berkeley CA (news story)
Acknowledgements
