High Desert Matriarch: SW indigenous Femme Artists

High Desert Matriarch artists:
Eileen, Amy, Venaya, Colleen, Jihan and Monica

New Mexican artist, Venaya Yazzie

On February 13-19, 2020 a group of regional Indigenous artists and their art 'confluenced' at the border town of Flagstaff, Arizona in the north region of the state.

Included in among the art was my own art.

It was a blessing to be among other women with the 'Creative Way' of being.  And, I was very happy to have worked with a co-curator of the exhibition, Amy S. Martin.  The exhibition was displayed at local coffee house hot spot, Firecreek Coffee Company.

The last day of the exhibited culminated with a film screening of Indigenous women filmmakers work.  I also was able to show my art film, "There is Water but No One Speaks." And after of which the artists did a panel discussion and talk.  The photo above includes the participating artists. Which included:

Jihan Gearon

Eileen Baca

Lyncia Begay

Monica Wapaha

Diedra Peaches

Aretha Shining Moon

Venaya Yazzie

To read more about the show follow the link below:

High Desert Matriarch Art

Blessings in All Things,

Venaya

Poem excerpt Venaya Yazzie

Ancestors in us, with us

Rooted to the strong, high desert cedar trees,

I speak with a green sage tongue

where female words sparkle -

like shimmering summer storm clouds,

like the shimmering eyes of our brown grandmothers.

 The old language lives atop the fingertip swirls:

adindii, adindii, shining, shining...

(by Venaya Yazzie, 2020)

Such narrative as poetry by Indigenous people in the twentieth-century is the truth. We as Indigenous poets, writers, speakers are the artists who are helping to speak the real truth.

I am so happy to share such writing with you All.

Blessings,

Venaya Yazzie

Eastern Dine' Nation,

Navajoland, USA

My grandmother, my forever muse

In memory of my Love, my grandmother Jane Werito Yazzie
Photo: Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2020

She was my light in this dark world called 'earth.'

She was my life in this wicked-place called 'earth.'

She was my best friend in this spacial dimension they call 'earth.'

She was my maternal grandmother, she was my 'home.'

When my grandmother was in her mid-forties, she took me into her loving arms and loved me unconditionally. She raised me up as her own 'daughter' and she molded me into her shadow of Navajo woman, Dine' matriarch. I miss her.

As I grew into adult womanhood, I realized how Creator God meant it to be for the two of us humble humans. She saved me in my infancy and in her wise, mature age, her golden years, i saved her.  We fed off of each others love and admiration for life. I was her baby muse.  And she will forever be my matriarch muse.

I was born as a Hooghanlani' -Manyhogans clan female being. On that first day of my first breath I was the image of all my ancestral matriarchs before me, before time.  I was tiny ancestor, fully adorned in turquoise and white shell and all my grandmother's and great aunties sang for me; their prayers gave my spirit life and strength to walk upon this land, in this dimensional space.

My grandmothers departure from this time and space has left a hole in my life.  Since February 4, 2020 I have been wandering this path without her by my side, and truth is - my heart is broken, I am broken into tiny pieces of sandstone.

As a visual artist, poet and Indigenous educator I am conscious of how I must move forward without her by my side. I know it is what Creator God had planned for us.  My grandmother walked with me all my life, and her life and voice and laughter and tears and happiness was shared with me, her 'daughter'. 

She shared with her acquired knowledge of the female matriarch and the compassion that we as women are born with.

As a young girl, she 'adorned' my fingers, my wrists, my neck, my ears with the most Beautyful mineral on 'earth.' Turquoise.  As a child, she showed her overflow of love by gifts of turquoise rings and bracelets.  When I remember her now, I visualize her fully 'adorned' in her jewelry, her royal ways of being.

Shima', my mother and grandmother Jane Werito Yazzie is no longer physically with me here, but she is her with me in spirit.  In my sadness and longing for her Navajo tongue and enduring adoration I hear her and my soul is healed. Sometimes if feels as though my heart stops beating and stay still, just so I can hear her narrative among the ancestral land of my high desert people.  She is absent in body, but then she lives on with me.

My grandmother, my forever muse.

Blessings,

Venaya VJ Yazzie

The legacy of 'masani,' Matriarch

Its been a long three months.

At times the reality of my grandmother's passing does not seem 'real.' Yet, we, the family are here without her in our daily lives.  The times are as turbulent as the winds that have been brewing here in northwest New Mexico, USA.  The legacy she left is abundant! Through the years she taught many skills to her daughter and to me, her adopted granddaughter.  I know I have a blessed life because of what she taught to me.

My narrative is her narrative. I am her, she was me.  The ways in which she lived her life in her latter years of life are embedded in my bones and her dialogue is rooted in my own tongue.  I miss her so much, and at times in my life, I feel so lost without her by my side.

My grandmother was my best friend, my most favorite person in the whole world.  I walk here not alone with her beauty beside me.  This reality has created a "unbalance" in my life to be sure.  Today, as I work to re-calibrate my place on earth, I hope to live a life that she would be proud of.

This capture I share concerns her, my dear matriarch's constant perpetuation of the Dine' cultural lifeways of the female being.  She was a weaver, a lineage of art ways she inherited from her mother, my great grandmother.  I have great respect for such ways and therefore will continue that legacy, its the only way I can pay honor to her.

Blessings.

Matriarch Jane Werito Yazzie RIP



Beloved Manyhogans Matriarch
Photo credit: Venaya Yazzie Photography
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2020

A Celebration of Life for Jane Werito Yazzie was held on February 8, 2020 at Maranatha Fellowship Church in Farmington, NM. She was laid to rest at the Brethren in Christ Mission Cemetery in Otis, NM.

Jane Werito Yazzie, a member of Eastern Diné Nation in New Mexico, left this earth to live in everlasting glory with her Savior Jesus Christ on Tuesday, February 4, 2020. She was Hooghanłani (Manyhogans), born for the Tódichiini (Bitterwater) people of the community of Dziłnaodithłe (Huerfano), NM.  She was middle daughter of the late Jim and Louise Werito and wife of the late Alfred Padilla Yazzie. Jane, matriarch of the family had seven children: her late five sons were: Alfred Jr., Keith, Raymond, Presley, Ronnie and her surviving daughters: Victoria, Maxine and adopted granddaughter, Venaya. Her siblings included: Annabelle Yazzie and Marie Black. Brothers: Bobby, Harvey Werito, and the late Jimmy, Wilbert and Thomas Werito.

Jane was beloved by many in the Farmington/Huerfano and surrounding communities. She always had a friendly smile to share and greeted everyone she met with gratefulness and humility. At age five she attended the Ignacio Indian Boarding School in southwest Colorado. In the 1970s she worked in Shiprock at the Fairchild plant. Jane was a weaver, seamstress and wonderful storyteller. In 2007 she along with her sister Annabelle and adopted sister, the late Ernestine Chavez were specially invited to speak about their experience at Ignacio Indian Boarding School at the Fort Lewis College Delaney Research Library in Durango, CO; they also visited the old school campus on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. Jane loved school and learning new things, she often reflected on her positive memories of her time spent at boarding school. She loved her two pet cats: Abraham and MiuMiu who were in her constant company at home. She will be greatly missed by all her family.

Bless each other.
VJY

Handpainted Yazzgrl Art Earrings

Earrings by Venaya Yazzie

Earrings by Venaya Yazzie

Matriarch Power - Via Cultural Garb

Neo-Matriarch Gear
Photo by Venaya Yazzie
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 2020

Every day the Indigenous woman, the modern Matriarch makes a plethora of decisions, not only about Her family, but about Herself. Each of us Humans, 'Ala'ashdla'ii,' the"five-finger earth dwellers" - as we Dine' refer to ourselves in this Universe - have our personal rituals, or routines.  On the daily, we ponder on what we will do, who we might see, what we might consume, where we might trek and most importantly, what we will wear! This capture is shared with you to showcase a typical weekend outfit for me, which helps to give a kind of empowerment. Knowing that I am wearing items of my culture and too the tradition of turquoise adornment give me that Matriarch Power to be sure.

For the Dine' femme, 'adszaa,' in 2020 our personal routine might involve prayer first, then we decide what will will 'adorn' our bodies with.  It might be a Beautyful wool, Pendleton coat, or a fine colored- Babushka, granny scarf, and maybe some jewelry items for our necks, fingers and ears via rings.  For the Dine' woman, I am sure it will involved the addition of 'dootlizhi' -turquoise or some sort.  This is where our Dine' identity involves the spiritual.  As as Humans, as 'Ala'ashdla'ii,' the"five-finger earth dwellers tangibly and spiritually identify ourselves to the spirit world by adorning ourselves with turquoise.

This tradition of turquoise adornment is passed down knowledge from our rich oral history of high desert ancestors. As Dine' babes we are gifted with turquoise that is attached to our cradleboards, or put on our tiny wrists in a turquoise bracelet.  The concept of wearing turquoise is on about trends in American fashion, its deep and holds a deeper, richer meaning, and foremost is about our identity as Dine' People in this dimension, the Fourth World.

Along with our turquoise, we also believe in the Beautyways of clothing adornment.  We love the garments our living Matriarchs design and create via our tribal clothing for both men and woman and our traditional hair styles.  We love the modern fashion too, skinny jeans and all! But, what we remember to keep close to us as we dwell in and out of modern American culture is that we are unique group of people on this earth.  We, as man and female beings, wear Gap, Kmart, Columbia gear, but also make sure we mix is up with our own cultural identity. We wear tribal identity on our shoulders so to speak, its turquoise and silver rings on our hands and wrists as we hold our Chanel handbags. This is who we are in 2020, we are resilient every time, all the time!  Well, I hope the most of us are, and I don't mean to generalize about all Dine' - Navajo - people, because I know not all of us are 'woke.' Yet...

Blessings all around.

Venaya Yazzie

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

2020

#ootd#fashion#jewelry#turquoise#beauty#columbia#Gap#Kmart#Chanel#Navajo#women

Dine' Femme Aesthetic via: Ja'atlo'

The aesthetic of the Dine' creator (artist) is truly unique.  As silversmiths we are the original designers and tangible creators of the Squash Blossom Necklace. Our tribal and cultural jewelry items are one of a kind.

Today I share with you the Dine' earring.  It is a constant item of the female environment, the earring.  We as Dine' refer to this  "earring" as Ja'atlo'.  It is historically and heirloom item that is worn as a necklace addition of a mature Dine' woman. But, in her youth it was worn as ear adornments on her desert ears.  Made traditionally with earth elements of turquoise and mother of pearl shell, the earring stands alone as the monumental narrative of women's adornment.

I share this Ja'atlo' from my private collection as an example of the basic earring design.  The long lines of this jewelry item make it screen with elegance and strength.  It is a simple design yet speaks volumes of the story of the female matriarch in the Navajo community.

To be sure, even in 2020, the Dine' women are still immersed in the human act of 'adornment' and this our case its Indigenous Dine' Adornment.  I hope you will always remember that every piece of jewelry in Navajo and Pueblo culture carries huge story with it and therefore perpetuates narrative everytime!

Blessings in all things.

Venaya Yazzie
New Mexico, USA

01-05-20

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED