Sacred Land, Scarred Land is a critical investigation into landscape alterations, environmental concerns from these alterations and impact on the local community. I focus on uranium mines on Navajo land at the state border between northeastern Arizona and Utah that were operating between 1944 and 1962.
Uranium mining on Navajo land has been banned by the Navajo government since 2005. Mining waste was removed in remediation efforts by the Environmental Protection Agencies. The clean-up, however, is ongoing, slow, and continuously underfunded. Permanent scars remain visible in the landscape, land that is sacred to the people of the Navajo Nation. Burials, springs, and ceremonial places were desecrated and permanently destroyed. Low radiation tailings from uranium mines and mills continue to contaminate air, soil, and water.
