This episode of the Outside Podcast is brought to you by Visit Arizona, home of the world-renowned artist Chip Thomas and the Painted Desert Project.

I would describe myself as a public artist activist for social justice and environmental justice and

I'm a primary care position.

Thomas has been working the Navajo Nation since 1987.

It's a part of Arizona that he immediately fell in love with.

I mean, I think one of the things that I love about this area is that there's tangible history.

You can see where people and how, where they lived, how they lived, roughly a thousand years ago.

Head north on Highway 89 out of Flagstaff. Before long, the ponderosa pines that blanket the foothills

around the city give a way to rockier Badlands as you descend towards the Deney Nation

and the painted deserts. This huge swath of Northern Arizona stretches between two

amazing national parks, Grand Canyon and petrified forest. Venture down

and either region's back roads, you find empty canyons, massive arches, sand dunes, and ancient unmarked ruins.

Then there are the incredible finds hiding in plain sight just off the road, like the series of public art installations that Chip created and

curated. I try to be a visual storyteller, you know, with the work that I do.

For his painted desert project,

Chip invited street artists from the reservation

and around the world

to paint a constellation of murals across the Navajo Nation.

There's the green room,

a small abandoned building behind a dilapidated trading post that addresses the effects of uranium extraction.

Several miles down the road, large scale black and white photos, and a series of vibrant murals transform the walls and white photos. A series of vibrant murals

transformed the walls and fuel tanks of an abandoned gas station.

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