Loominescent
2018
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
SCULPTURE
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Adaptation is central to the Navajo due to all we’ve adopted as traditional. One is “authentic” if they can make fry bread (fry bread was originally made with flour and lard given in relocation camps), or if they can weave (weaving wool is not indigenous to the US). Sheep are a European species invasive to the environment and later adopted as a resource into many tribes’ cultures. Adaptation was forced. Navajo Spider Woman is key to the culture: the first weaver of the universe, creating beauty and teaching balance. Symbols of spiders/webbing are attributed to her (The Bow & Box Loom).
The weaving of the unnatural with the natural is necessary; a threatened group either evolves or goes extinct. Each piece juxtaposes organic/artificial elements such as untreated wood with plastic bags, or indigenous material like deer sinew and branches from environmentally invasive tree species (Reclaimed Invasive Loom). There are contrasting conversations between the mass-produced, found globe or food product (Recycled Dream Catchers & Globe Loom) and the biotic form of an untreated stick (Hesse Inspired Loom). There’s visual/conceptual irony in the dream catchers made from trash/invasive trees; invasion/pollution is a nightmare. Dream catchers are meant to stop them, so although they contradict each other, they are working harmoniously. Change is scary, but adaptation brings new balance. |
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