Museum Panorama Honors Nipmuc Land Stewardship & Collaboration

A new panorama in the Fisher Museum is the culmination of a year-long collaboration between community organizer Nia Holley of the Nipmuc tribe, multimedia artist Roberto Mighty, HF Director of Outreach & Education Clarisse Hart, the Vermont-based design company Shadows & Light, and the Wilmington-based printing company Advanced Imaging.

The photograph, spanning a 24-foot wall in the museum, depicts the east branch of the Swift River, in an area that has been known for millennia as Nichewaug. Nichewaug, which includes Harvard Forest research land, is part of the unceded home territory of the Nipmuc—the Fresh Water People.

Several exploratory walks with Nia, Roberto, and Clarisse preceded the selection of this site for the panorama. Our collective hope is that it will launch necessary conversations about the past, present, and future land stewardship by the Nipmuc people - a conversation which continues to inform and transform discussions and actions on research, education, and land management at Harvard Forest.

• Read remarks by Clarisse Hart at an autumn 2021 celebration of the panorama's installation.

(Photo by Shawn Read.)