letting go

I first pasted this image of Stephanie 3 years ago in December of 2010.  It was at the beginning of a period I refer to as "The Time of Great Suffering."  My fellow physicians were starting to leave and administratively, work was becoming less than satisfying.  Three years later work remains challenging.  Pasting this picture that winter gave me great joy and has served as a symbol of hope.  It went on to become the iconographic image for The Painted Desert Project.

Over the years I've pasted it 3 times on J R's house.  Roa painted 2 sleeping foxes and a sleeping rabbit in August of 2012.  I was saddened about a year ago when I noticed that one of the doors to the house had been opened (as the house remained solidly boarded up for years).  I talked with the owner (J R), who said thieves had broken in and stole household items he'd stored inside.  I apologized feeling that art on the house attracted the thieves to it.  He dismissed the thievery saying it was okay.  He didn't think the theft occurred because his house was painted.

Then a couple months ago I noticed panels were being removed from the house.  My first thought was that the art was being rejected by the community.  I called J R and once again apologized for the destruction of his house and offered to make to a donation to help him recover some of his losses from the theft and the wood that was being removed.  I was relieved to learn that he'd sold the house and the new owner decided to rebuild.  The art wasn't being rejected out of malice.  Still, I sent him a thank you check for letting me use the space to post work.

My dad was fond of saying "...Nothing stays the same forever.  Things either get better or they get worse but it doesn't stay the same."  This house provided me with much happiness over the past 3 years and in it's transformation it's reminding me on an ongoing lesson of this project - try to create beauty with good intention and then let go.

lola!

i met lola this past november in milwaukee.  she stole my heart immediately.  lola belongs to the family of artist, author, activist, academician, anarchist, archivist, animal lover nicolas lampert (who has probably been called worse + who just published "a people's art history of the united states:  250 years of activist art and activists working in social justice movements."  this recently released book is available through the printmaking collective just seeds.)

meanwhile, back to lola!...

she was all over me and her family with the unbridled energy of a puppy possessed.  the image of her pasted in cow springs is the one moment in the week i spent with her that she stood still.

ode to mary jane

lola!

horse play

solidarity

solidarity works on many levels.  in the animal kingdom we have this...

(richard's winter squash for sale in tuba city)

and then there's my experience with solidarity...

jc in red lake

king fowler by nils westergard

naa dáá'

lawrence + his mom at their stand on 89 north

i had a most excellent morning hanging out with them hearing stories from their lives.  

naa dáá' is navajo for sweet corn.

naadáá’

julian + the twinkie death tax

last month a councilman on the reservation introduced a bill to the navajo legislature called "the twinkie death tax."  the purpose of the bill was to tax junk food and to not tax fruits + vegetables (as is the current practice).  money raised from the tax would be used to build wellness centers in chapters across the 27,500 square mile reservation.  apparently the vote was close but ultimately the measure was defeated.

the grassroots group that organized to pass the legislation noted that the only time representatives from soft drink companies have attended chapter meetings and hearings on the rez was to speak out against it.  had it passed, the navajo nation would have been the first reservation in the country and one of the first municipalities to pass such a law.  fortunately, the legislation is going to be introduced again.

i contacted the diné community advocacy alliance who was responsible for spearheading the effort to pass the twinkie death tax hoping to generate some visuals in prominent places to support their efforts.

to this end, i visited 4 friends today who live nearby. i wanted to get a better idea of what people are eating.  it's one thing to talk abstractly about the rez being a food desert and another thing to get someone to open their refrigerator and cupboards.  three of the 4 friends have no running water or electricity which automatically limits what they eat.

i started the day with julian's mom, elaine, whom i've known for the 26 years i've worked here. she said on her limited income from working 4 hours/day at the senior center she had to choose between transportation and electricity and running water.  she chose transportation and has been without utilities for the past month or so.  fortunately, her garden has been proliferative this year.

elaine uses her refrigerator to store dried goods.

my friend julian said he's been without power for the past month or so as well.  he and his family have no running water either.  he has a small garden in which he's growing squash that's been sustaining them since the vegetables started to mature.

julian + his daughter with all the food in his house.

before leaving, julian took me over to show me his gym with homemade equipment where he also has some playground equipment for his daughter.  the next time i go back i'm going to have to get him to repeat what he said about his martial art style being influenced by bruce lee and how this style of martial arts was developed by a female monk.  (yeah, i know that doesn't make sense which is why i'll have to go back to get the story straight.)

a manly journal

i spent the past 2 days hanging out with a photographer from men's journal.  besides putting up 2 new pieces and re-doing the image of stephanie on j r's house, we visited some older installations + friends i hadn't seen since the spring.  it was great reconnecting with folks. 

roa's rabbit from a year ago

thomasina, marley's mom, with a fan she got in a trade

kid on swing

labrona's piece from last summer

josey's son