The Future is Unwritten: Chip Thomas, The Painted Desert

The Painted Desert is a project for the people of the Navajo Nation in Arizona led by Dr. Chip Thomas. Utilizing large-scale public sites, local and international artists are invited to create messaging around the need for improved social cohesion and health on the reservation, where life expectancy is shorter and there are high rates of COVID-19 and health issues such as obesity, diabetes and suicide compared to national averages. Paintings are made in an effort to boost tourism on the reservation, to supplement the incomes of families with roadside stands, and to nurture the creative talent of local youth. The project establishes sincerity, intimacy and trust between Chip and the communities of people he photographs as an act of visual storytelling. Chip’s public work has drawn attention to the impact of uranium mining on the Navajo people, carbon emissions and rising CO2 levels, nutrition and critical health messaging, and of community organizations advocating for change. The murals in The Painted Desert exemplify the relationship, wellness and community building potential of public art and aim to reflect love and appreciation of the rich history shared by the Navajo people back to Navajo people.

Chip Thomas, aka “jetsonorama” is a photographer, public artist, activist and physician who has been working on the Navajo Nation since 1987. Chip grew up in North Carolina where he was first exposed to the philosophy of doing the greatest good for the greatest number. He moved to the Diné Nation in 1981 to repay a National Health Service Corps scholarship by volunteering his skills in a community with limited healthcare. By the time he had satisfied his four-year obligation, he had fallen in love with both the people and the landscape.

Today, Chip’s public-art installations — known as The Painted Desert Project — are bolstering the community through a constellation of murals across the Navajo Nation painted by artists from all over the reservation and the world. He is a member of the Justseeds Artists Co-operative, a collective of 30 socially-engaged artists. You can find his large scale photographs pasted on the roadside, on the sides of houses in the desert, on the graphics of the Peoples Climate March, Justseeds and 350.org carbon emissions/climate change campaign material. Chip still practices family medicine four days a week at the Inscription House Health Center, a clinic outside the village of Shonto.

Demographic Analysis of the Navajo Nation using 2010 Census and 2010 American Community Survey Estimates

Household Income: The median household income for the Navajo Nation is $27,389, which is approximately half that of the State of Arizona ($51,310) overall. One-third (32%) of all households on the Navajo Nation have incomes of less than $15,000 when compared to the State of Arizona (17%).

Poverty: Poverty rates on the Navajo Nation (38%) are more than twice as high as poverty rates in the State of Arizona (15%). Almost half (44%) of all children under 18 years of age are considered to be living in poverty, while one-third (34%) of tribal members between 18 and 64 also live in poverty.

Unemployment: The unemployment rate on the Navajo Nation is approximately 50%.

COVID-19 and Critical Public Health Messaging through Art

On April 14, 2020, a Huffington Post headline read, “Navajo Nation Reports More Coronavirus Cases per Capita Than All but 2 U.S. States: Only New York and New Jersey Have More Confirmed Infections per 100,000 people.” The last point is key, because testing on the Navajo Nation was not as robust as for New York and New Jersey.

In light of the emergency on the Navajo Nation, several mutual aid, grassroots organizations formed to get supplies of food, water, personal hygiene items, and firewood to elders living remotely and to provide hand-washing stations for unsheltered relatives in Kinłani (Flagstaff, AZ). Though the reservation is rich in natural resources that have been and continue to be exploited (including coal, oil, natural gas, uranium and water in aquifers), roughly 25 percent of the 180,000 inhabitants are without running water and another 20 percent are without electricity.

This poster was designed by Chip Thomas to inform the community of the public-health strategy to provide optimal health during this time and to support the work of mutual aid groups.

COVID-19 on the Navajo Nation

The Navajo Nation encompasses more than 27,000 square miles across three states – New Mexico, Utah and Arizona – and is the largest home for indigenous people in the US.

As of August 2020, the Navajo Nation had successfully flattened the curve.

Welcome to Diabetes Country

“I've always been interested in messaging, especially around health-related issues and one of the first interventions I took part in here was there was a billboard erected by the Pepsi Company on the reservation that showed four large cans of pop with water dripping off of them because they were cold and refreshing and it said, "Welcome to Pepsi Country." But this was advertised in a community where one out of four adults over the age of 45 has adult onset diabetes, so a Public Health Nurse and I, named Lorie Smith, went out one night and wanted to correct that sign to get people to think about the messaging a little differently. So we changed the message to read, "Welcome to Diabetes Country." We wanted people to think about the connection between their health and their diets and we also wanted the Pepsi Corporation to reconsider whether this was the most appropriate place for that ad. Well, the billboard ran for a month with the altered message. Then [Pepsi] took it down and it never returned.”
—Physician-Artist Chip Thomas, on his public interventions for health and nutrition on the Navajo Nation

Painted Murals Advocate for Nutrition in a Food Desert

According to the US Department of Agriculture, Dinétah, the traditional homeland of the Navajo tribe of Native Americans meaning "among the people" or "among the Navajo” in the Navajo language, is a food desert with only 10 full-service supermarkets for 180,000 people scattered over an area larger than West Virginia (27,500 square miles). In the 13 supermarkets on the reservation, over 80% of their inventory was found to have no nutritional value, qualifying as junk food.

Prevalence of Type 2 diabetes on the reservation is 1 in 3 for adults over 45 according to the Indian Health Service. In December 2014, Berkeley, CA became the first city in the US to pass a soda tax measure. However, in November 2014 the Navajo Nation Council signed into law a bill initially known as the Twinkie Death Tax, later changed to the Healthy Diné Act. It goes further than the Berkeley measure in that it is the first such law in the US to tax both sugary beverages and snacks, sweets, and baked and fried goods of “minimal to no nutritional value.”

Information obtained from an article titled “Navajos Fight Their Food Desert with Junk Food and Soda Taxes” in a publication called “The Salt,” 2015, and the Diné Policy Institute.

Chip Thomas’s Painted Mural showcases corn as a nutritious alternative to junk food sold in supermarkets.

Mortality Disparity Rates
American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) in the IHS Service Area 2009-2011 and US All Races 2010 (Age-adjusted mortality rates per 100,000 population)

Indigenous people and Alaska Natives have long experienced lower health status when compared with other US citizens. Lower life expectancy and the disproportionate disease burden exist because of inadequate education, disproportionate poverty, discrimination in the delivery of health services, and cultural differences. These are broad quality of life issues rooted in economic adversity.

Diseases of the heart, malignant neoplasm, unintentional injuries and diabetes are leading causes of American Indian and Alaska Native deaths (2009-2011).

American Indians and Alaska Natives born today have a life expectancy that is 5.5 years less than the US all races population (73.0 years to 78.5 years respectively).

American Indians and Alaska Natives continue to die at higher rates than other Americans in many categories, including chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, unintentional injuries, assault/homicide, intentional self-harm/suicide, and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

Hope and Trauma in a Poisoned Land

As early as the '50s, scientists and public health workers knew of the dangers of radiation exposure. Finally, in 1967, on the front page of The Washington Post, there was an article talking about the dangers of working with uranium. But even still, very little was being done on the reservation to tell workers about these dangers and to protect them. In the Navajo Nation, thyroid, respiratory and gastrointestinal cancers are common cancers seen amongst uranium miners.

The Impacts of Uranium Mining

From 1944 to 1986, hundreds of uranium and milling operations extracted an estimated 400 million tons of uranium ore from Diné (Navajo) lands. These mining and processing operations have left a legacy of potential exposures to uranium waste from abandoned mines, mills, homes and other structures built with mining waste, which impacts drinking water, livestock and humans.

As a heavy metal, uranium primarily damages the kidneys and urinary system. While there have been many studies of environmental and occupational exposure to uranium and associated renal effects in adults, there have been very few studies of other adverse health effects.

In 2010, the University of New Mexico partnered with the Navajo Area Indian Health Service and Navajo Division of Health to evaluate the association between environmental contaminants and reproductive birth outcomes. This investigation is called the Navajo Birth Cohort Study and will follow children for 7 years from birth to early childhood. Chemical exposure, stress, sleep, diet and their effects on the children’s physical, cognitive and emotional development will be studied.

This image shows JC with her younger sister Gracie, who is a NBCS participant.

The Green Room, a Place of Meditation and Contemplation

Green references the long history of uranium mining on the Colorado Plateau/Navajo Nation (90% of the US’s nuclear arsenal during the Cold War came from Diné land), and the resulting contamination of the land, water, livestock and humans since 1942. This left over 500 abandoned, unsealed mines littering the land and water sources.

To learn more about ongoing threats of uranium mining in and around the Grand Canyon, a US national treasure and one of the seven wonders of the world, visit the Grand Canyon Trust online for more information. To quote citizen Susan Jane Heske: “We can make a difference by reading the Grand Canyon Trust report and calling and emailing our elected officials supporting the ban on uranium mining and protecting the Grand Canyon, and/or donating to legal funds and non-profit organizations.”

“5 Ways Arts Projects Can Improve Struggling Communities” by Tom Borrup

1. Promote Interaction in Public Space: Public space provides opportunities for people to meet and be exposed to a variety of neighbors. These meetings often take place by chance, but they also can come through active organizing.

2. Increase Civic Participation Through Celebrations: Annual or seasonal events such as festivals or farmers’ markets can be especially effective in communities with great social, ethnic and economic diversity. The processes used to plan and carry out these events are at least as important as the events themselves.

3. Engage Youth in the Community: Including young people as meaningful contributors in the social and economic aspects of community building must not be overlooked and cannot be left to schools and parents alone. Research in civic engagement by the League of Women Voters indicates that the factor most likely to get people more involved in community affairs is helping to improve conditions for youth. This is especially true in communities with a history of intergenerational trauma. Art helps people express experiences that are too difficult to put into words.

4. Promote the Power and Preservation of Place: When people become involved in the design, creation and upkeep of places, they develop a vested interest in using and maintaining these spaces. When they have a true sense of "ownership" or connection to the places they frequent, the community becomes a better place to live, work and visit. The residents' feelings of respect and responsibility for the place bonds them to that place and to each other.

5. Broaden Participation in the Civic Agenda: Within the arts, there is a vital yet lesser-known field of practice that strives to develop cultural understanding and civic engagement. Community-based arts practitioners bring members of a community together to solve problems, build relationships, and get involved in ways that rebuild social capital.