Meander
Stories of Plant Migrations along the Middle Rio Grande Bosque

The plants of the river tell countless stories. Some can be read in the contours of the floodplain, others are only told to those who ask. Still, many remain buried - present, but unseen. Plants tell stories in myriad ways. As humans, we tend to think of plants as situated and unmoving. Yet as species, they move slowly and methodically through time, responding to conditions and adapting accordingly. Their migrations signal changes in the environment and speak to the values of those who tend them. Plant-human relationships are complicated by nature, and the tales we tell together include both symbiosis and violence. Yet plants remain faithful teachers of how to continue on in a world that’s rapidly changing.

This series of handmade books is in response to a year-long research process rooted in the Rio Grande bosque (forest) of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Rio Grande was once a meandering river, bending and braiding throughout the floodplain. Her path left behind marshes, oxbow lakes and cleared muddy flats for cottonwoods to grow. Today meanders are nearly a memory, as the river is diverted and confined to a single channel. This alteration of ancient cycles reverberates through the flora of the bosque, limiting succession and modifying plant communities.

I conjure the memory of a meander through my footsteps. I walk winding paths through the bosque, revisiting sites and considering the plantfolk around me. These plants grow along riverside drains, inside cement-lined canals, and with and around steel jetty jacks and levees. Invasive species grow alongside the natives, ready to take over when the time is right. Uncertainty shrouds my steps as I hold onto the stories of what has been lost and what remains. I look to the plants to guide me into the future, but they usually just ask me to stay and listen.