ARTIST Noah Jodice
TITLE Native American Crops of the Eastern Agricultural Complex
LOCATION Kiener Plaza Park – 500 Chestnut St.
WARD 8
FOLLOW @noahjodice
ABOUT NOAH JODICE
Noah Jodice is an illustrator and designer based in St. Louis. His work ranges from self-published zines and printed matter to commissioned public art and community-engaged projects. As an illustrator and designer, he has specialized in distilling conceptually complex stories into legible and clever imagery.
His self-published work focuses on social relationships to image-making and often explores personal anxieties or complex systems through narrative cartoons. His work has been recognized in the 42nd Annual of American Illustrators, the 10th annual International Motion Art Awards and the 64th Annual of the Society of Illustrators. Locally, he has worked with ArchCity Defenders, the St. Louis Independent Comics Expo, free workshops at local institutions and various independent artist collaborations.
ABOUT THIS MURAL
Jodice’s mural is a botanical-style illustration depicting early crops of local indigenous cultures during the Terminal Late Archaic and Early Woodland Periods.
The content draws on research by Gayle J. Fritz, professor emerita of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. The design is a bouquet-like composition that centers the domestication and cultivation of these plants by indigenous cultures. Plants included are the chenopod, ragweed, sunflower, maygrass, little barley, and erect knotweed.
The central role of these plants in pre-colonial communities is contrasted with their varied present-day significance. Some, like sunflower, remain culturally significant crops and aesthetically mainstream flowers, while others, like chenopod and ragweed, are considered weeds. Still, even such “weeds” continue to grow wild in the St. Louis area, including at vacant lots throughout the city.