Earth Day is Every Day

Photographer Kelly Sena revisits wild older project with Foto Forum Santa Fe show

By the time Los Angeles-based photographer Kelly Sena had finished reading Edward Abbey’s 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang in 2002, you might say she’d become radicalized and more aware of the plight of the environment. She was ready to pursue something intense. Previously, Sena’s Birds of North America project had explored humankind’s impact on our feathered friends, but between Abbey’s words and an introduction to now-defunct environmental activist groups like Earth First!, the Animal Liberation Front and the Earth Liberation Front, Sena found herself traveling to observe activists on trial for alleged crimes committed years earlier. Some had freed animals from fur factories, others had scuttled traps or even blown up SUVs; all believed humanity’s impact on the globe had become devastating.

“Because of Birds of North America, I already had my toe in the water when I discovered these activists,” Sena tells SFR. “The Joint Terrorism Task Forces created a Green Scare—like a riff on McCarthy’s Red Scare—and as I started to look around I started to notice there was something there, something rich.”

Sena hatched a plan for a project wherein correspondence with indicted, incarcerated or otherwise harangued activists would lead to more travel, gorgeous images and a project that speaks volumes to this day. Opening at Foto Forum Santa Fe this Friday, For the Wild, features shots directed by those incarcerated activists and executed by Sena.

“I thought, why don’t I write them while they’re in prison and ask where they go in their mind’s eye when they’re incarcerated to stay sane,” Sena explains. “Suddenly I started getting all these replies, and they were really receptive—so I said, ‘Tell me where to go, I’ll go do recon; then send you pictures and you can tell me yay or nay, what angles;’ I wanted to empower them.”

Thus began her journey to various remote locales around the country at the behest of activists Rodney Coronado, Jonathan Paul, Jeffrey “Free” Luers and others. The project would ultimately be completed in 2012, along with an archival book of Sena’s correspondence—both of which now come to Santa Fe.

“All but one of these people are out now,” Sena says. “Part of their agreement is they’re not to speak publicly anymore, so I feel like I’m their voice in a way. I don’t want them to disappear.” (Alex De Vore)

Kelly Sena: For the Wild Opening: 5-7 pm Friday, Nov. 4. Free. Foto Forum Santa Fe, 1714 Paseo de Peralta, (505) 470-2585

Mutations

The psych-rock world is a rather interesting one, with deep roots in the experimentalism of the 1960s, but also an ongoing presence within the realm of contemporary bands, singer-songwriters, et al. And though there are any number of groups for music fans to discover, one of the most enduring and influential bands anyplace would clearly be Brazil’s Os Mutantes. Founded way back in 1968 (1964 if you wanna get technical about brothers Arnaldo and Sérgio Baptista’s first musical forays), Os Mutantes not only enjoyed a heyday throughout the ‘70s, it reunited in 2006, kicked off another era of excellence across numerous records and collaborations (Beck, even!) and, now, it heads to Santa Fe to teach us a thing or two about the Tropicália genre. Neat! (ADV)

Os Mutantes: 8 pm Thursday, Nov. 3. $25. Meow Wolf, 1352 Rufina Circle, (505) 395-6369

Big on Books

Santa Feans who are tuned in to all things library already know about the NEA Big Read of There, There this year. And no doubt author Tommy Orange’s 2018 book—winner of the PEN/Hemingway Award, the National Book Critics Circle John Leonard Prize, the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the American Book Award among other accolades—was already widely read in these parts. It’s themes of urban Indigenous youth grappling with coming of age, generational trauma and historical narrative resonate here, and that’s why we expect a full house when Orange (Cheyenne and Arapaho) appears in a public interview this weekend alongside National Native News journalist Antonia Gonzales (Navajo) for an evening at Santa Fe Indian School. (Julie Ann Grimm)

An Evening with Tommy Orange: 6:30 pm Saturday, Nov. 5. Free. Santa Fe Indian Schoo, 1501 Cerrillos Road, (505) 989-6300. Register at santafe.librarycalendar.com/event/tommy-orange-santa-fe-indian-school.

Geeks/Drink

For those who’ve yet to get down with the Jean Cocteau Cinema’s new take on entertainment, what are you waiting for? Oh, sure, they’ll still play films, but they’re hosting any number of standup acts, live podcast recordings, readings, convos and, come Monday, everybody’s favorite pubquiz. Yeah, just don’t call Geeks Who Drink trivia, friends, because the folks who run and attend the ongoing contest of smarts and useless knowledge think of it more like a battle royale of glorious nerd-dom. You’ll need a crack team to navigate anything from sports, TV, music, film, video games and whatever else, but to the victors go the spoils—which in this case is mainly bar bucks for future hangs or, sometimes, Cocteau swag. (ADV)

Geeks Who Drink: 7 pm Monday, Nov. 7. Free. Jean Cocteau Cinema, 418 Montezuma Ave., (505) 466-5528