Holy Ground: The Oyster

The work brings together voice, percussion, and spatial movement to create an immersive sonic experience rooted in land, ancestry, and collective gathering. Inspired by Indigenous traditions in which music, sound, storytelling, and ritual function as interconnected systems, the performance considers how these forms can serve as vessels for cultural continuity and communal reflection.

Performers:

Lorena Navarro (Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation), percussionist

Bo Shimmin (Pueblo of Acoma), tenor

Damian Norfleet, baritone

Holy Ground was selected via More Art’s 2025/26 Engaging Artists Commission open call, which supports emerging artists creating socially engaged work in the public realm.

The artist writes: “I am thrilled to be the awardee of the Emerging Artist Commission this year, and to have an opportunity to create work in a time of troubling artistic censorship and active efforts to sever the relationship between humanity and the earth. As an artist, I have never felt more motivated: we are the storytellers, historians, and knowledge-keepers right now. Holy Ground: The Oyster is integral in remembrance, hope, and activating our collective future.”