For our October episode, musician-artist Björk talks with author-scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer across subjects ranging from how language connects us to the natural world; the consequences—both personal and global—of living apart from nature; and what it means in our transient society to live in right relationship to the land. Bjork’s latest album, Fossora, is out with One Little Independent Records. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s most recent book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, is available from Milkweed Editions.
Artists on Writers, Writers On Artists brings together luminaries in the fields of art and literature for freeform, intimate conversations about the subjects that they wish to talk about. This monthly series is a co-production of Artforum and Bookforum magazines. This episode is sponsored by the New-York Historical Society.
Björk is a multidisciplinary artist who, time and again, innovates across music, art, fashion, and technology. From writing, arranging, and producing an expansive music catalog to her collaborations with scientists, app developers, writers, inventors, musicians, and instrument makers, Björk continues to inspire and experiment, redefining the boundaries of what it means to be a musician. Her most recent record, Fossora, is her tenth, and has received wide acclaim since its release this past September.
Robin Wall Kimmerer is a mother, scientist, decorated professor, and enrolled member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. She is the author of Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, as well as Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. She is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment, whose mission is to create programs which draw on the wisdom of both indigenous and scientific knowledge for the shared goals of sustainability. She was recently named a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.
