The Soil Memory Atlas: Reading the Social and Material Histories of Place

This talk introduces the Soil Memory Atlas, a transdisciplinary research methodology and research-creation practice for reading the social and material histories of place. Blending soil data, cultural archives, and living knowledge, the Atlas traces how human-environment relations accumulate, persist, and transform across time and translates those traces into interactive digital forms and gallery exhibitions.

Katherine Lawless is an Assistant Professor of Transdisciplinary Environmental Communication at the University of Calgary and Director of the Relational Ecologies Lab. Her research examines how communities understand and transform their relationships with land, soil, and other ecological systems. Working across environmental communication, cultural geography, and research-creation, she collaborates with scientists, artists, and communities to develop new ways of studying and representing human-environment relations.