Stories from Our Land: Mari’s Adventures in California and Beyond

Mariana Wahrhaftig “Mari” is essentially the modern day reincarnation of Alexander von Humboldt (the namesake of Humboldt County, The Bay in, the Redwood forests, and several other landmarks in Northern California, Nevada, and around the world) but armed with modern day cameras and equipment rather than the pen and paper that were available during the 19th century. Had Humboldt been alive in the 21st instead of the 19th he in no doubt would have created the video series that Mariana Wahrhaftig is creating right now.

Just like Alexander Von Humboldt, Mariana Wahrhaftig left her native land (Brazil in this case), and fell in love with the majestic beauty of the United States’ natural landscapes. So, just like the other intrepid explorers of the past, she decided to be inspired by the wild beauty, and create art that inspires others, but this time using 21st century methods and technologies. Her newest project, “Stories From our Land” is an ambitious project that seeks to capture the soul of the rugged beauty of the land that blesses this country.

Many Los Angelinos and San Franciscans (myself included) have never been to the various places that California has available let alone do what this series is trying to convey:

“There’s Magic in Nature. You just need to stop and listen.”

The main goal of this series is intended to not only bring attention and highlight that these natural wonders of the land have stories to be told, but also to inspire imagination in people to see magic through storytelling in places that they would otherwise just see them for what they are: beautiful.

In the busy modern world where we live in the hustle and bustle of LA traffic or a busy street in San Francisco, it is very easy to remember that California, as well as the rest of the country, is a wild land filled with natural beauty. Long before the advent of modernity, the US wilderness was full of various natural landmarks whose only witnesses were the fauna and flora that lived there.

For thousands of years before the earliest humans even set their gaze onto the land, the land itself was singing stories filled with drama, cycles, and beauty with the audience being nature itself. Mari (as Mariana Wahrhaftig is often called by her friends) seeks to tell these stories to an audience in a more accessible form. The goal is to capture and give accessibility to the songs of nature whose previous audiences did not have ears to listen nor eyes to gaze — to those who do.

As a part of this initiative (storytelling really) Mari is looking for a “call of arms” so to speak to make the unknown known. She is looking for more “unsung stories” that she can convey the song for. California, with its 163,695 square miles of territory is a big state. With a square milage that beats Japan’s 145,882 square size in total area size, there are MANY untold stories that the state has. There are mountain ranges, deserts, and many other unsung stories that can be told; and it is in California that the first episode of the series takes place.

The first episode takes you to the Cholla Cactus Garden, a seemingly simple place in the desert, which sits in between two deserts. “The Garden Between Two Deserts” takes the viewer through the landscapes that surround it, and the story of how this place perhaps started.

The possibility that one lone, but mighty cactus as the beginning of a place of thousands, just shows how tenacious nature is, and by sheer determination can create and multiply. A “barren” landscape is not very barren if you pay attention to it, and even the most innocuous landmarks tell untold stories. There are many tales from our land that are there, but simply forgotten. Mari wants to give voice to these wonders of nature, and show the viewer the world through her eyes in the form of storytelling.

This is just one of many stories that Mari will explore through “Stories from our Land”.

You can watch the trailer, follow updates on the release date and find out more about and how to help at: storiesfromour.land

Be sure to follow her in order to be updated when there are new locations, and feel free to suggest new adventures for her!

She can be contacted here: mari@storiesfromour.land

Her website: https://www.storiesfromour.land/