Matriarchland. Indigenous Adornment.Happiness & Beauty All Around. Be Matriarch.

Created as an homage to my desert ancestors, I focus on the historical significance of Indigenous southwestern tribal adornment culture and the perpetuation of those adornment practices perpetuated into the 21st century. In honor of my Navajo & Hopi Pueblo People & my ancestral matriarchs, and male relatives who adorned themselves with elements of the earth. Be Matriarch. Hózhó Nashá- Beauty all Around. Venaya Yazzie

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

BlueBird Handbags by Venaya Yazzie.Dine'/Hopi

BlueBird Handbag made by Venaya Yazzie 2015

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Sister of Navajo leader Mariano

Navajo woman
Historical photograph courtesy of I nternet

Beautiful matriarch photographed in a portrait studio setting.

Dine' males - Navajo Male Adornment

Dine' males - Navajo Male Adornment
Historical photography circa 1900s
Photo courtesy Internet

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have done research on the perpetuation of Navajo male Indigenous adornment and have found that this practice is being lost in this era.

I adore this photograph for several reasons, but above all I like that it depicts three generation of Navajo males. We can see that there is an elder man, and a middle-aged man and also a young boy presented in their finest southwestern Navajo male adornment.

At this era Navajo were utilizing velveteen materials in their garments and usually it was their shirts that were fashioned with the quality velveteen. Here we see that they are wearing such shirts, including pants that are made of cotton material. Historically the Navajo would reuse materials they sourced from perhaps flour bags, or other items used in a utilitarian fashion.

They are all adorned with head adornments, but it is the elder man who wears the traditional Navajo male head adornment via his war bonnet hat. Usually they were made from buckskin and adorned with turkey feathers.

As we can see their silver work adornments are exquisite.

Sunday, December 6, 2015

Venaya's Art - Yazzgrl Art

Please visit my Art website at

yazzgrlsart.weebly.com

Art by Venaya Yazzie
Yazzgrl Art 2015

and also

https://squareup.com/market/venaya-yazzie

B L E S S I N G S

Thursday, December 3, 2015

My Dine' Matriarchs

My Dine' Matriarchs. Navajo grandmothers of mine.
Photo credit Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2015

As I have mentioned before, I was raised by my maternal grandmother (pictured on the left). She and my maternal grandfather raised me up in their home as their child. I am forever grateful to them. Now I care for my grandmother who just turned 86 years. Her she stands with her sister.

My experience growing up was so very rich, for I was always among the Navajo elders of the community of Tota' and of Huerfano, NM on the eastern Navajo reservation. I believe my adoration of the Navajo way of 'ha'dit'e' is why I research it, Indigenous Adornment is my passion.

Her my matriarchs are pictured with with their beauty-ful Navajo style jewelry. For me the are the 'Beautyway' personified.

Ed Curtis photo of a Hopi girl

Hopi girl by Edward Curtis
Photo via Internet

There are many who do not agree with the tactics of Edward Curtis. But, as a modern Indigenous person of the American Southwest, I must say I am grateful for his work.

If he did not take the time to photograph the desert ancestors then I would never be able to see this kind of beauty. I love this image for many reasons, but above all I love that we get to see her in her finest Indigenous Adornment.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Artist Statement – Venaya Yazzie Woman of Water: Baa

Artist Statement – Venaya Yazzie

Woman of Water: Baa

In Diné (Navajo) epistemology the children are traditionally taught that when we are first conceived in the organic world of our desert matriarchs, we are water. In the trade of stories of contemporary Diné we understand how we grew in the cirlce of the womb and were molded into human form, we conceive that we are water. When we leave our matriarchs womb we are water. When we take our first breath we are water. As modern desert dwellers, as Diné we express, ‘tó éí iíná.’ Water is life.

On August 4, 2015 the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “accidently” released heavy-metal laden contaminated water from the abandoned Gold King Mine into the flow of the Animas River in southwestern Colorado. The warning to the people and communities down river was not given until the next day. In southwestern Colorado, later to the state of New Mexico a formal acknowledgement of the river contamination was finally admitted four days later by the EPA when the federal entity began a series of public meetings throughout the communities affected.

As an Indigenous citizen of the area and a member of the eastern Navajo Nation in New Mexico I watched in distress because the Animas River and San Juan rivers play an extremely pivotal role in contemporary Diné people’s lives. At the two rivers, the Diné have 'converged' for prayer, ceremony and celebration for time immemorial - the waters of these two rivers is embedded in the DNA code of the Indigenous people of this community. I am a desert ancestor of the waters that flow through a beautiful desert valley on the northwestern area of the Diné lands, or as you may now it, the Navajo Nation. It was instilled in me that my Indigenous matrilineal clans are derived from the sacred element of water. I was raised in the San Juan Valley in northwestern New Mexico, my family history includes story about the Animas and San Juan rivers that have come to be named by those who colonized the area as such, but many histories before they arrived to the area, the river community was called Tó by the Diné. The river was named a 'sacred' place or site and to this day the river is a place of spiritual power, but it is only known to those who understand and recognize it for the true purpose of it. Respect for desert water is the Beautyway.

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