Saguaro Land is a series from The Show looking at the Sonoran Desert — the lushest, hottest desert in the world that happens to be our home.
It's perhaps the most iconic figure of the Sonoran Desert: the saguaro cactus. The great bastions of the Southwest, standing tall and waving boldly in just about every image of the American West for decades.
But, just how far back does this imagery go in American history? And how has this one relatively restricted plant species come to bear the burden of so many expectations?
William L. Bird Jr. has some answers.
Bird is a curator emeritus at the National Museum of American History and author of the new book " In the Arms of Saguaros: Iconography of the Giant Cactus."
The Show spoke with him about his extensive research into the saguaro and what he found when he dove into it.
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The Show's Amy Silverman reflects on the Saguaro Land series, and the plight of the iconic Sonoran Desert cactus that is its namesake.
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The Show is exploring the desert season by season in the series Saguaro Land — through music, art, literature, food, drink, flora and fauna — and now through design.
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Journalist Caroline Tracey has watched as Instagram and other platforms have turned a spotlight on the desert in ways she finds both refreshing — and troubling. She spoke to The Show more about the trend and what it means.
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In The Show's newest installment of Saguaro Land, we learned about using the desert to make music from Kyle Bert, who has been turning agave stalk into didgeridoos for 25 years.
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Tempe artist Safwat Saleem used baking as a metaphor for describing how he and his young daughter are learning to thrive in the Sonoran Desert.