A panel discussion with Zuni elders about the “Humanhood in the Organ Mountains: Prehistory” exhibition, a showing of Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument artwork and a wrap-up of the “Weaving for Justice” exhibition round out April events at the New Mexico State University Museum this month.

The University Museum will host a panel of Zuni elders as they discuss the “Humanhood in the Organ Mountains: Prehistory” exhibit. The event, which is free and open to the public and incudes light refreshments, will begin at 4 p.m. Friday, April 14, inside the University Museum auditorium at Kent Hall, 1280 E. University Ave.

For the development of the exhibition, Director and Anthropology Professor Fumi Arakawa, museum staff and the anthropology department at NMSU invited the Zuni Cultural Resources Advisory Team to visit two cave sites within the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument, as well as to review hundreds of artifacts from one of the cave sites – Chavez Cave.

The result of the conversations led to showcase narratives by six Zuni elders pertaining to the cultural landscape and artifacts of Chavez Cave in the “Humanhood” exhibit. A number of these elders will join the panel to discuss them.

Later in that evening, the museum will feature artwork of the Friends of the Organ Mountains Artist in Residence Program from 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, April 14, at the University Museum in Kent Hall.

The Artist in Residency Program hosts artists in the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks National Monument twice a year, during May and September. The program provides the artists and the public with an opportunity to interact and better enhance the understanding of our public lands.

The University Museum also will host a closing celebration for a weaving exhibition that has been on display in the East Gallery since August 2021. “When a Woman Rises: Maya Weavers Creating Relationships Through Textiles” was co-curated by the Weaving for Justice organization, which explores the practice of Maya weaving in Chiapas, Mexico, and the many-layered relationships created as textiles circulate around the world.

The celebration from noon to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 20, will include a sale of weavings in the University Museum lobby. All proceeds go back to the nine collectives in Chiapas that Weaving for Justice serves. The film “Prayer for the Weavers,” produced by Judith Gleason in 1998, will be screened at 6 p.m. and followed by a discussion about the current hopes and struggles of the weavers and motivations for working in solidarity with weaving collectives by volunteers with Weaving for Justice.