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| Captures of my current Yazzgrl Art Photo by Venaya Yazzie 2018 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
The mainstay within my artwork content is the Indigenous woman. I am much inspired by my high-desert matriarchs of the Dine' (Navajo) and Pueblo people of the Four Corners area, the Rio Grande Valley and Hopi Pueblo(s).
The current works on paper are inspired by my own Dine' relatives (my aunts, cousin sisters) and too by my Dine' clan relatives. In the Dine' ways of being, many of us are 'clan related' if we belong to the same clan groups. Being raised up by my maternal grandmother and her family of female relatives I have always found inspiration from their lives.
As an adult I am now amidst the "life" of the Dine' matriarch, which concerns a plethora of duties and other activities. As a care giver for my grandmother I am perpetually in her company and therefore much mused by her life.
The image(s) I share concern the concepts of the southwest Indigenous Adornment of my matriarchs. Our life philosophies emit narrative of turquoise and silver, and hair bundling and braiding, as a means of finding and keeping that "balance" of a woman's life. The acts of 'adornment' concern the spiritual and also teaching in how a Dine' woman is to respect herself by caring for her person.
I will continue working on this new series of work that celebrates the Beautyway of the Indigenous matriarch.
Blessings in All things.
(posted 4-29-18
by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED)
