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Caite Mae Ramos

October 29, 2024

Caite Mae Ramos (b.1991, Springdale, Arkansas) is an Oglala Lakota multidisciplinary artist who is interested in observations of the natural world and human interactions with it. For almost three years their work and research has centered around a remnant prairie and savannah in South Fayetteville, Arkansas called The Oak Knoll. Caite began researching on the site looking to deepen their knowledge of Andropogon gerardi ‘Big Bluestem’ a tall grass that is native to the area but also native to parts of the ancestral homelands of The Oceti Sakowin and where their dad grew up in South Dakota. ‘When I walk into a tallgrass prairie, Big Bluestem is always the first to greet me-face to face. It’s oriented perpendicular to the land just like us in our human form. Seeing its presence in Northwest Arkansas really validated my presence here, connected me with who I am, and taught me about place and resiliency through the lens of a wildly overlooked grass.” Working with The Oak Knoll for specific artworks led to Caite sharing the space as an extended classroom to their foundations class at The University of Arkansas. They linked each of their students to a plant species to research and create work from as a way to share the local history of what this land used to look like and form relationships with what is now. Caite believes sharing these stories and plants is a way to protect and care for the land. Being in conversation with botanists in the area has been integral to learning these spaces and the relationships formed are inseparable from the work Caite has made: Jennifer Ogle introduced Caite to The Oak Knoll and the scientific methods of research through The University of Arkansas Herbarium. Sarah Nunn traveled with Caite to other remnant prairies and taught them how to responsibly gather and press specimens. Samantha Heller shared her expansive knowledge of native plants and ability to ID them. “Learning plants with these women has been a formative part of life and practice- they’re so generous with their time and knowledge and always with their own flavor of humor and wit. Their individual love for the prairie and ongoing work continuously pushes me to be a better human and artist.” Caite’s work directly inspired from The Oak Knoll remnant prairie savannah: “Remnant’s Observed’, ‘Remnant’s Rest’, and ‘Passing Through’ can be viewed at caitemaeramos.com.

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