DEAR HUMAN

Dear Human is a multispecies audio guide of Chicago’s West Ridge Nature Park, activating messages from non-human residents of the land: its pond, a large tree, a local deer, and others.

For best results, listen outdoors with headphones. You’ll discover an immersive experience merging narration with the existing soundscape through site-specific prompts to listen, touch, and find your place within the local ecology.

When you’re ready to begin, look for the “Welcome” trail marker at the park entrance to activate the first message, and follow the map to discover more voices, OR activate the messages below as you meet them along the way. Transcripts are available for each track.

History of this site: For many decades, the land that is now Chicago’s West Ridge Nature Park served as a dumping ground for debris as part of one of Chicago’s oldest cemeteries. During its renovation as a public park in 2013, artifacts revealed that it was previously part of an enormous precolonial Native American village. It later served as a center for trade, travel, and healing for the native Potowatami people and for the Miami, Peoria, Kickapoo, and Očhéthi Šakówiŋ tribes. In part due to federal urban relocation policies, Chicago is home to one of the largest urban American Indian communities in the United States, who continue to contribute to the life of this city and to celebrate their heritage, practice traditions, and care for the land and waterways. Dedicated as public park space in 2015, this Nature Park preserves a 21-acre oasis in the heart of the city, supporting native plants, birds, amphibians, deer, and other species, including a dedicated community of humans. 

Dear Human was initiated through Navigations, a series of artist projects shared and realized in public/common space through the Roman Susan Art Foundation. It was designed as an audio guide through Chicago’s West Ridge Nature Park in alignment with The Available City as a partner program of the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial. Special thanks to Sol Hinami-Mayorga, Katy Kelsey-Morgan, Gary Morrissey, Andrew S. Yang, and Margaret Morris for lending their voices to the organisms featured here.