Ghosts 2019

Ghosts was made over the course of a one week stay at Muley Point in Utah whilst studying the Land Arts of the American West programme, at The University of New Mexico in 2019. It was exhibited as part of a series of three publications.

I would like to acknowledge that the images in this publication were made at Muley Point in Bears Ears National Monument, Utah on the indigenous and native lands of Diné (Navajo) communities. I would like to express my gratitude to Jonah Yellowman and Denyce White of Utah Diné Bikéyah and Sunny Dooley who so graciously shared their stories and their fight for justice in the Bears Ears Region, and for allowing us the opportunity to live, work and learn about these immensely powerful landscapes steeped in history, spirituality and tradition. But also, just as important, were the stories shared of historic injustices inflicted onto these communities by European colonialism and more recently under the Trump administration with the horrific and extensive portioning off and destruction of land due to Oil and Natural Gas development.

These images present my interaction with these lands, and I am deeply honored and humbled to have had the privilege to experience them. However, the inherent politics of being a guest here cannot be undermined or watered down. Especially when creating artwork and photography in particular. The format relies on the outer world; it is these landscapes and forces of nature, which create such beautiful visual poetry that allows photographic interpretation, and importantly, not representation. This image making process is a collaboration.

I, as a western artist creating work on native lands, cannot deny the roll and impact of colonialism. And must acknowledge the history of colonialism and the roll many have played in that history and subsequently how the making of our work contributes to that history. We must work to progress the conversation of dismantling colonialism in art and raise awareness of the injustices that are happening right now on these sacred lands.

Information of the work Utah Diné Bikéyah are doing to protect Bears Ears can be found at utahdinebikeyah.org