Plant Lives: Sacred Interdependencies in the Arts of the Americas
Plant Lives: Sacred Interdependencies in the Arts of the Americas
A planting event and conference hosted by the Yale Institute of Sacred Music
April 11, 2026
In 1831, the preacher Nat Turner testified that hieroglyphics had appeared to him on leaves and corn stalks in a field. These hieroglyphics, he said, relayed divine messages that inspired him to lead a rebellion of enslaved Virginians. The starting point for this one-day conference is the many capacities of plants to transmit divine insights across time. This event at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music will explore the ways in which plants perform, evoke, and embody sacred relations throughout the Americas.
