MULTIMEDIA

On Saturday May 14, students and faculty gathered at the O’Donohue Family Stanford Educational Farm for the third annual celebration of Earthtones - a student-run environmental justice festival. This year’s theme of Rooted in Community centered and celebrated students of color in their connection to the earth. Amongst the backdrop of the farm’s oak trees and colorful fruit and vegetable gardens, participants engaged in a variety of workshops from cyanotype print making and tea making to farm harvesting, a clothing swap, and a guided meditation. An exhibit of student artwork about the earth and environmental justice adorned the farm’s main building, and multiple live bands played music as students ate vegan chicken tenders and mac and cheese from the Vegan Hood Chef’s food truck. Towards the end of the event, Maya Burke from Black Earth Farms and Peri Plantenberg and Peter Phan from Silicon Valley Youth Climate Action, both local environmental organizations prioritizing uplifting people of color in relationship to the environment, also spoke to the audience in an interactive Q&A. Senior Natalie Cross led and organized this year’s Earthtones, which was modeled after the 2018 festival Earth in Color started by Stanford Alumni Darel Scott. Cross decided to continue the tradition of honoring people of color’s relationship to the environment and reimagine the way in which our society views “nature” as a predominately white space.

This video features Joy Harjo's "Eagle Poem," and videos inspired from an interview I had with her in order to convey ideas represented within her poem.

Using found footage online, I compiled and edited different clips to represent themes about our place in nature, as well as the interconnectedness of all life. Towards the end of the film, the images become more pixelated and distorted to represent our current relationship with our environment.