After the Winter
Mountain Center
Santa Fe, NM
2021
I began this project in 2020, mid-pandemic. It was created in collaboration with participants of the Mountain Center's program for substance abuse rehabilitation. The Mountain Center focuses on healing and rehabilitation through connecting with wilderness and reconnecting with our physical bodies and community. During my time spent on this mural, I met a diverse group of individuals who made me realize that addiction does not have one demographic, face, or story. It is a spectrum of experiences not unlike the experiences we all face in life. How we are able to shift, change, and grow from those experiences and traumas are unique to us, but when we congregate in community and trust we learn through each other. This mural is a reference to the Diné Tree of Life. The landscape was created as a composite of the many places we visited while working on this project.