Restore/Restory: A People’s History of the Cache Creek Nature Preserve
As an historian, I was awed by the emphasis on multivocality and things that are no longer visible. I loved how ideas were made real, audible and physical. You really made me think and I feel sure the project will influence my own work, as well my awareness of where I live and how.
— Krystyna von Henneberg in an email to author, October 22, 2012
Restore/Restory explores the complex history of the Cache Creek Nature Preserve in Northern California through the voices, images, and experiences of a diverse cross section of Yolo County residents—from tribal leaders to teachers, miners to environmentalists, farmers, scientists, youth, poets, and policy makers.
The 130-acre Preserve sits on land used most recently for large-scale gravel mining, but was home to Anglo farming, Californio ranching, European trapping, and native Patwin fishing and gathering. In many ways, the Preserve is a microcosm of California, and in telling its story, the project reveals the larger narrative of California's peoples, conflicts, and realities.
Restore/Restory involved over 200 local residents in a collaborative effort to chronicle the diverse and changing demographics, traditions, and relationships with the land that is now a Nature Preserve. Through a two-year community-driven process, scholars and students from different fields (English, technocultural studies, Native American studies, community development, art, design) and community members collaborated with documentary artist jesikah maria ross to collect hundreds of audio recordings, photographs, archival images, and documents.
Guided by a community advisory group, ross then curated the content into a variety of distinct media arts pieces including a story map of community memories, an audio tour presenting multiple perspectives on local history, digital murals combining archival and contemporary images with first-person audio narratives, and an illustrated historical timeline of the Preserve.
These productions were shared back with the wider public via an interactive website, site-based audio tour devices and downloadable maps available at the Preserve, and a series of rural arts events that combined food, live music, story-sharing activities, nature and culture walks, basket-weaving demonstrations, and guest speakers.
Restore/Restory aims to spark conversations critical to helping communities understand their natural environments and creating a more sustainable and inclusive relationship between people and place. The project was produced through a partnership between the UC Davis Art of Regional Change program and the Cache Creek Conservancy and directed by jesikah maria ross.
Learn more about the project:
"Restore/Restory: A Mosaic of Voices in Rural California" by Matthew Fluharty
"Producing Culture: An Interview with jesikah maria ross—Community Development and Resource Extraction at the Cache Creek Nature Preserve" by Laurie Glover
“UCIRA Spotlight on Artist jesikah maria ross: Restore/Restory” by Ariel Swartley
