Lynette Cook

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In "Braiding Sweetgrass," author Robin Wall Kimmerer writes about the grammar of animacy as it pertains to language, and how this can affect our perception of the world around us. In English, 70% of the words are nouns. In many indigenous languages, including Kimmerer's native tongue of Potawatomi, 70% of the words are verbs. Verb-based languages tend to convey a living world rather than one comprised of inert objects. Kimmerer mentions the word for "bay," which in English is a noun, a "thing," but in Ojibwe seems to mean "to be a bay," which is animate and conveys that it is living.

Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that 80% of the land worldwide where the greatest biodiversity exists today is where indigenous people live and where there is a greater connection to the Earth and its creatures. As an example, it is easier to cut down a forest when it is viewed as a thing to be used for one's personal use or gain than when it is perceived as a living being with whom one has a relationship.

The topic of animacy has percolated in my mind during the Covid pandemic. Simultaneously, following pandemic guidelines to spend time outdoors in one's own neighborhood, I have rediscovered nearby San Bruno Mountain; it now is my destination for exercise and connection with Nature. Each time I go, two diametrically opposed themes run through my mind: 1) how small this natural space is, surrounded by the huge, urban sea that presses on its flanks like the rising tide of climate change and 2) how amazing it is that so many native plants and animals still live here.
 

I also started volunteering at Mission Blue Nursery, which grows native plants for restoration purposes, and connected with its parent organization, San Bruno Mountain Watch. In so doing, I have learned more about the mountain's biodiversity, its threatened and endangered butterflies, and the community activism that began fifty years ago to save portions of the mountain from development. Also, I have learned more about indigenous people who once lived on the mountain and its environs. San Mateo and San Francisco counties are Ramaytush Ohlone land. It is where I have lived and created my art for nearly my entire adult life.

My "To Be" group of paintings merge all these complex and diverse tracks into visual unity. On the one hand, they are a recognition of our urban spaces coexisting with nature. Diving deeper, they point to the heartbreaking reality of habitat loss and to my thankfulness for the flora and fauna that still live here. Portrayed through the windows are "beings" that I see and encounter as I live, work, and explore this Ramaytush land: birds, trees, animals, and more. With my choice of titles I encourage viewers to put on their "animate glasses" and view their surroundings from a different perspective. Thus, what might have been "Raven Through Window," is instead, "To Be a Raven."

My wish had been to include indigenous words in the titles. I reached out to The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone for information and permission. Due to the fact that most of the language was lost during the genocide of California's Mission Period, and that few words still exist, my request was politely declined.

In closing, I offer this quote:

"For only when we can hear the languages of other beings are we capable of understanding the generosity of the Earth, and learning to give our own gifts in return."

—Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer