rezRadio, 2009, reinforced concrete, solar electrical audio assembly, 2-channel audio collage, latex tubing. Dimensions variable. Wendover Airfield, UT.

The artist created a temporary installation that amplified a collage of audio fragments recorded from Navajo radio station, KTNN. The site of the installation is the historical proving grounds to the Enola Gay, the plane that would deliver the first atomic weapons of mass destruction. Navajos played an outsized role in WWII as “code talkers,” but also as workers in the uranium mining industry. Extensive mining has taken place across the Navajo Nation over decades and left a wake of ecological and social devastation. The artist’s friend, Daniel Neztsosie, first introduced him to the issue after relating the Neztsosie’s important Supreme Court trial following a series of terminal illnesses in their family.

The project began in 2007 with grants from Brooklyn Art Council and Arizona Commission on the Arts to create a web documentary of uranium mining’s legacy in the Navajo Nation. The artist recorded oral histories and photographic documentation following guidelines established by Navajo Nation Historic Preservation Department. The website was launched at Melville House Publishing in DUMBO. The artist’s installation following the documentary project was exhibited at Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art and El Paso Museum of Art for Border Art Biennial 2010, curated by Rita González and Itala Schmelz. The installation was initially supported by Center for Land Use Interpretation’s Wendover Residency Program.