During my mapping journey, I came across the vast impacts of uranium mining on the Navajo reservation and its communities. Existing portrayals of the Nation often sensationalize their plight, overshadowing their resilience and agency in addressing environmental racism.
Through further research I found out more about The Red Water Pond Road Community in Church Rock, NM which has endured uranium impacts since the 1950s, leading to significant health and environmental impacts. Despite the closure of mines, the legacy of uranium contamination persists within the nation, affecting multiple generations. The valley land has been scraped and eroded through disposal and stereotypical remediation efforts.
Since storytelling is integral to the Navajo way of living, I used the speculative tale titled, “Once Upon a Mine” involving characters rooted within the community of Red Water Pond as a lens to imagine a futuristic alternate reality. The graphic novel set in 2070 becomes an avenue to talk about the past in a new way and challenge the present remediation strategies through the lens of a changed future. A future that doesn’t dwell on the injustices that occurred but indeed works collectively from within to move forward.
