Blatchford, Diné — a photographer, artist and activist — told Source New Mexico in an interview that the complicated and obscure world of uranium mining can make activism difficult, especially given that the legacy of uranium mining in Indigenous communities here started as a clandestine project.

“It feels intimidating. And I think that was the intention of the federal government, to make it this censored thing, because it was a secret to begin with,” she said.

The opening of the Anti-Uranium Mapping Project at CENTER in Santa Fe seeks to, among other objectives, counteract that censorship and intimidation. And it represents a grand unveiling of years of intense work and lifelong curiosity about Blatchford’s roots to the Navajo Nation and its landscape.

While she’s given various presentations and held exhibits in other states, the homecoming to CENTER is the first time she’s had full creative control over how the project is displayed. And it’s in Santa Fe, where she has lived more than a decade.

The exhibit opens amid a renewed push for uranium mining in New Mexico and shortly after the Navajo Nation reached an agreement with Energy Fuels, a global mining company, to transport uranium across the nation from a mine near the Grand Canyon to a mill in Utah.

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