My series, “Distorted Landscapes,” focuses on important or sacred locations for Diné people. These places hold significance to our creation stories and the broader history of the American Southwest. Each work represents America’s distorted views of what land they claim as theirs and how we, as Diné, are shifting the western narrative of what land means. For us, it is where our ancestors, memories, and stories lie hidden within. In these places, we share our legacy through the mesas, canyons, and materials from the land.
Since the birth of this nation, there has been a skewed view of land ownership within the United States, which is especially prevalent in the American Southwest. Here, the land was taken from our ancestors, stolen, and divided. For many Diné, the pain of this history still lives on today with the constant governing of the US government on our sovereign nation.
