flip the script

i just got an email from a friend in boston who is a photographer.  she said something to the effect that the navajo are lucky for my gift.  in truth, i'm lucky to be here having this experience receiving the gift of acceptance from this community.  

i had an incredible 2 days of pasting yesterday and today.  it seemed the conversations with people in the community and those passing through who stopped to give a shout out were deeper + different from previous interactions.

at black mesa junction i ran into my son's cousin sister, jaye.  i hadn't seen her since 2001.  she was having a rough day yesterday.  she said that she'd been drinking and had gotten into a fight with her sister.  jaye was visiting from farmington and will be heading back soon.  she was excited to see me again and to see the picture of jamaal flying across the top of the old tire store.

i got unsolicited feedback from 2 people at black mesa junction that they thought that the image of the old man washing his face with the coyote standing nearby (which they thought was a wolf), represented a skin walker or a shape shifter.  their interpretation of this piece wasn't good.  i didn't help the situation by including a flying human in the mural.  again, the question arises of artistic freedom, introducing new iconography while trying to be culturally sensitive.  so far, the verdict is that yote and i failed on this one.

jaye, after the fight

nate, karen's foot + daisy

step with party dog (who got a red bandana yesterday from the locals)

meanwhile, the vibe at cow springs today was totally cool.  i met a lot of great, great people and got to hang out with shonto begay + ed singer.  thanks for the love y'all.

peace.

kqed (san francisco) shout out!

http://www.kqed.org/arts/visualarts/article.jsp?essid=61151

black mesa with yote (+ addy)

             

yote's coyote

mae's evolution since march 

mural 1

mural 2

too crazy that yote has this on his calf and i got asked by luaka bop to play with their company logo which is essentially this tattoo.  

http://speakingloudandsayingnothing.blogspot.com/2011/06/stop-making-sense.html

stephanie couldn't make it. she was just getting off the river. we thought of you! xo

more images from santa fe

arriving in santa fe

step's leg as canvas for a long trip

love train

jamaal with crown

mary reese on canyon road

stephanie and vanessa installing   

vanessa wilde

grandma's new bike

grandma's new bike

okay.  i give thanks for a safe return to the rez after a week of craziness + serendipity in santa fe.  thanks to the santa feans in the house.


no drama + i got our last piece up yesterday.  she's such a sweetheart.  after taking the train from albuquerque to flagstaff last weekend so she could hike youth out of the grand canyon for her job, she drove back to santa fe for the axle contemporary opening friday.  she also spent mid week working with students on art projects.  then no drama helped me hang "grandma's new bike" for vanessa wilde's "kaleidospoke" show at cca.  we did that yesterday then drove around town looking for vulnerable walls last night.  


like i said, no drama is such a sweetheart.  she takes it on herself to look after me and to just be there like only someone who understands me can be.  thanks partner.

xo

art of the rural shout out

http://theruralsite.blogspot.com/2011/07/saturday-portfolio-jetsonorama.html

bum rushing canyon road

mary before leaving the dumpsters at photo eye

  
mary in her new home on canyon road

 

mary at the rail yard

"as the world turns," step panel

"as the world turns," drum major panel

art remembers when there were beaches on the colorado

it's been a good week in santa fe.  i give thanks.  as it turns out, the installation i did monday night at the photo eye bookstore and gallery on the wall by the dumpsters wasn't trashed after all!  the photo eye people had arranged for the wall to be transferred to a gallery on canyon road.  the owner of the gallery on canyon road was going to use it inside her gallery.  however, when she saw the piece i placed on it monday night, she decided to use it outdoors.  i've not meet the gallery owner yet but heard from the photo eye people that she might be open to me doing another piece on the panel.  so, last evening i went back to the panel with a bucket of red paint and did "art remembers when there were beaches on the colorado."  i hope she likes that piece as well. (and that's the unlikely series of events that led to me getting to show work on canyon road.)

the opening for the axle contemporary show is this evening.  the installation i did for the van is titled "as the world turns."  

more to come...

santa fe by night

mary reese at photo eye gallery + bookstore

(it appeared the gallery was trashing one of their display walls.  how fortuitous.)

major taylor outside monroe gallery

love train (santa fe)

my long time friend, lucy boulanger, came out to help.

serendipity strikes!  bruce strumminger (pictured above with me), used to work at a hospital 3 hours away from the small clinic on the navajo nation where i work.  in 2006 or so he left that hospital to direct a centers for disease control aids testing and treatment program in abidjan, cote d'ivoire.

he was aware of my photography and arranged for me to come to cote d'ivoire in 2007  for 2 weeks to shoot a photoessay on the aids outreach work they were doing around the city.  i shot the image on the train of aids orphans playing ring around the rosey on my last day in abidjan.

unbeknownst to either bruce or myself, we are both in santa fe this week and will be staying with mutual friends.  i've not seen him since leaving cote d'ivoire in 2007.  you can imagine his suprise upon seeing the piece i'd chosen for the train.

in route to santa fe...

in route to santa fe step and i stopped to put a small piece up.  it was around 2:30 p.m. and 101 degrees.  we were glad it was a small piece.