In this episode, we are joined by Ben Johnson and Dr. Ben
Wilder. Ben Johnson is a Tucson based visual artist and curator
whose photo-realistic paintings have been featured in galleries
worldwide. Dr. Ben Wilder is a Tucson based botanist & desert
ecologist. He is the director of the Tumamoc Hill Desert Laboratory
& the Director of the Next Generation Sonoran Desert
Researchers.
Ben Johnson and Dr. Ben Wilder have spent the last several
years traveling to Sonora, Mexico to study and catalogue one of the
Sonoran Desert's most intriguing phenomenon, the Pozos of the Grand
Desierto. The pozos are ancient fresh water springs sprinkled
mysteriously along the largest expanse of sand dunes in North
America. In this conversation, we explore the new scientific
findings of the pozos and the artwork that resulted from several
seasons of collaboration between our two guests. As the
conversation unfolds, we find ourselves unraveling deeper truths
about these sites as confluence points of culture, biology, and
larger earth systems.
Dr. Ben Wilder and Ben Johnson Pozos project website:
Each episode we feature in depth interviews with scientists, authors, engineers, entrepreneurs, artists and policy makers exploring the threads between Earth, its living systems, and our place in the Universe.