Think Out Loud OMSI exhibit looks at geological events of Pacific Northwest through a Nez Perce lens
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Feb 13, 2026 Ellen Bishop, geologist and photographer who blends field science with Indigenous narratives, and Roger Amerman, ethnogeologist and artist who interprets landscape through tribal oral traditions, discuss the Heads & Hearts exhibit. They explore how Nez Perce and Columbia Basin stories illuminate Mount Mazama, Ice Age floods, earthquakes and the cultural transmission of landscape knowledge.
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Oral Traditions Fill Geological Gaps
- Western science has long overlooked Native oral traditions when reconstructing Pacific Northwest geology.
- The exhibit reframes eruptions, floods, and earthquakes through Nez Perce and Columbia Basin perspectives.
Growing Up With Oral Landscape Knowledge
- Roger Amerman describes growing up near Hopi and Umatilla reservations and seeing oral literature about soils and geography.
- He says those stories convey 18,000 years of landscape history and removing them robs people of their humanity.
Stories Can Be Geological Records
- Ellen Bishop notes geologists traditionally dismissed indigenous stories as myths rather than potential data.
- She links accurate tribal accounts to documented events like the 1700 Cascadia earthquake and tsunami.