Grounded Relations & Repair is a doorway for accountable relations with Native nations. With the advent of the 150-year anniversary of the University of Colorado Boulder and the state of Colorado, this exhibit foregrounds the cartographic history of the lands in which CU-Boulder resides. In collaboration with the Maps Library at University of Colorado Boulder, this project aspires to assemble a cartographic exhibit featuring the maps and stories of respected Native artists and intellectuals including Rick Williams, George Levi, Sid Whiting Jr, Kristina Bad Hand, and other Native intellectuals who wish to use this time of commemorance, on the history of CU-Boulder, to recognize the longer history of these lands and future—a past, present, and future where Native presence is ongoing alongside the University community. In so doing, this exhibit intends to animate historical consciousness surrounding Native nationhood across Colorado and to create the conditions for repairing relations with Native nations and the state of Colorado. Climate breakdown is an expression of ongoing settler colonialism, demanding the repair and healing of Native homelands and cultural relations. Using a combination of classical cartography and artistic works, the public facing exhibit of maps will demonstrate the ongoing ways in which Native peoples wish to see their stories and worlds acknowledged, as to foreground accountable relations that create the conditions for the repair of the Earth. Where not everything can be repaired, the exhibit continues a centuries long testament of Native resilience that maps Indigenous life, governance, and thrivance back into place. 

This exhibit will be launched on October 30, 2026 at the Maps Library at the University of Colorado Boulder. The exhibit will be up for through May 2027. 

Latinx/Latine geographies are essential for understanding the formation and future of Colorado. What does it mean for Latinx/Latine people to live in good relations alongside Native nations? What do Indigenous and Latinx kinships make possible when fighting for environmental justice?

Published works for this project are forthcoming

Rivera, I., Guitirrez, G; Trujillo, L; Maria, F; Lopez, T, Perez; R; Vanik, L. Undoing Heternormative Latinidad: Foundations for a Liberatory Geography.  ACME (Forthcoming) 

We invite community organizations and members to partner with us. We believe in centering and platforming community intellectuals who show us the everyday ways in which geographical knowledge of and from Colorado is made, shaped, and elevated for life.