Research
Pigeons Mapping Project- 2024
A natural and colonial history of the passenger pigeon in Minnesota.
Winner of the Most Provocative, Graduate Level 2024 U Spatial Mapping Prize
Hmong Cultural Center Exhibit- 2024
Data visualizations and analysis for the Hmong Museum and Cultural Center, including the map at right.
(Click image for link to the map gif)
Camp Fire Minnesota- 2024
A site history and timeline for Camp Fire Minnesota and consultation on how to address aspects of racism and cultural appropriation in their history.
Ricardo Levins Morales Liberation Calendar- Since 2022
For the past three years I have helped with historical research for the calendar. I'm not going to share pictures of the pages because that's not my art, but you can see the most up to date version here
Speaking Out Collective- 2023
I wrote a series of stories for the Speaking Out Collective's Truth Tellers series. I also worked with them and Z Puppets Rosenschnoz on a video about treaties (link on image)
Building Renaming Talk- 2021
I helped rename a building at Macalester and then was asked to give a talk about it several years later.
Metropolitan Parks Department Historical Research- 2021
I did historical research and GIS analysis and visualizations at the Metro Parks Department for their 2021 historical and cultural study, "the Establishment and Growth of the Metropolitan Regional Parks system"
(Click image for link to the map gif)
Lake Street Truth Collective- 2021
Created a temporary exhibit and helped facilitate conversation for a series of community dinners.
Macalester History Department Oral History Project- 2021
I conducted an oral history project, including nearly twenty interviews, in an attempt to explore the development of the History department at Macalester College, from its origin as a small religiously oriented department to its diverse present. There isn't a picture on account of this being oral history.
Chicago Cultural Atlas- 2020
I made a series of map spreads a part of the Chicago Cultural Atlas including perspective on Indigenous Chicago (left) and Chicago's bathhouses (right)
Anticolonial Maps of Minnesota- 2019
One of my earliest mapping projects was a gallery and book of treaty cession maps in what would become Minnesota, with Dakota and Ojibwe placenames.
The book is no longer in print, and would need substantial revisions to make it suitable for distribution.
You can find a video presentation about the maps here
Other publications
Mary Heskel, Elizabeth Hrycyna, Romeo Gomes, Jennings Mergenthal, Saiido Noor, Xiaomei Xu. “Using Radiocarbon of Plants to Track Inequity in Urban Environments.” Plants, People, Planet (2024)
Mary Heskel, Jennings Mergenthal “Learning from the many, teaching to the many: Applying EcoJustice principles to undergraduate pedagogy in ecology and environmental science classrooms.” In: Transforming Education for Sustainability Discourses on Justice, Inclusion, and Authenticity. Eds: Rivera Maulucci MS, Callahan H, Pfirman S. Environmental Discourses in Science Education, Springer. 2023.
Elizabeth Hrycyna, Jennings Mergenthal, Saiido Noor, Mary A. Heskel "Satellite observations of NO2 indicate legacy impacts of redlining in U.S. Midwestern cities.” Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene (2022) 10 (1): 00027.