The new “California: State of Nature” exhibition

At the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, a new long-term exhibition California: State of Nature celebrates the deep relationships between Native peoples and the lands and waters of California, highlighting cultural practices that sustain biodiversity and cultural identity. For the exhibition, Coastal Band Members were invited to share their voices and artistry, along with many other coastal tribes.

Abalone (qaši)—one our most important relatives and a keystone species—was featured heavily in the exhibit.

Coastal Band member Alicia Cordero spoke beautifully on our relationship with gathering from the land and waters. And Mia Lopez and Tima Lotah Link created new cultural works to honor qaši. Mia designed a story skirt showing water flowing from the Santa Barbara mountains into the ocean, where abalone shells shimmer. Tima created a woman’s necklace—hi l‘e’l hi sam‘e’leč hi l‘en’eneq—woven of juncus, dogbane, and three-leaf sumac, with abalone pendants and asphaltum beads that chime when worn.

Together, these works reflect our enduring Chumash relationships with abalone, the ocean, and the coastal homelands we continue to protect.

Photo courtesy of Gayle Laird © California Academy of Sciences