Art and 'Indigenous Adornment'

Original art by Venaya Yazzie, Dine'/Hopi
Photo courtesy of Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2015

In creating this blog I wanted to showcase the 'beauty' of contemporary and historical Indigenous Adornment of the tribal people of the southwest, specifically the Dine' (Navajo) and Pueblo people.

I grew up with a strong sense of 'adornment' in my life. My maternal great-grandmother and grandmother both believed in 'adorning' themselves and their family with turquoise. When someone in our family was not wearing turquoise my grandmother would question them, and then suggest that they were some. My great-grandmother Louise Werito had a great moral story on the 'adornment' of turquoise jewelry and would use it to teach us a lesson on going without some type of turquoise jewelry item. In the end of the story she said if we don't wear jewelry or 'adorn' our wrists specifically then we were kind of foolish like the jackrabbit out in the sagebrush, sitting silly with his "bare arms."

This type of Dine' oral history has become part of my life. I use such teachings to continue tradition and to educate people on the significance of 'dootlizhi' or turquoise in 21st century life. So as a visual artist I do my best to paint 'Indigenous Adornment' via my paintings, as a way or contribution of the legacy of the 'adorned' desert matriarch.