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BY JOYCE BEGAY-FOSS Before the arrival of the horse, foot travel was a constant challenge for the Diné and other tribes in the vast Southwest. When horses were introduced to the region by Spaniards in the sixteenth or early seventeenth century, the lifestyle and culture of the Diné dramatically changed. (more…)
Categories: Uncategorized
BY RICK HENDRICKS Rope is one of man’s oldest tools. Almost every culture on Earth twisted animal hair, hide, sinew, or plant fibers to make some type of rope. Braiding and twisting strands of such materials yielded a product that was stronger than individual, unbraided fibers. (more…)
Categories: New Mexican cultures, New Mexican history, Southwestern history
As refugees, [Joy] Ndungutse and [Janet] Nkubana were among the lucky. Both educated and employed in Uganda, they had no experience of Rwanda’s dark days, though their parents’ years of sacrifice and struggle had left an indelible impression. Even as their mother was disconnected from her homeland, she gave the sisters a cherished gift of Rwandan tradition, teaching them to weave colorful coiled baskets from natural fibers and grasses in the style made and used in Rwanda for centuries.
Categories: Visual art
Kites! Appealing to young and old alike, kites fill us with wonder and we watch them fly with a twinkle in the eye and a wide “kite smile.” Enjoyed the world over, kites have a particularly special place in the cultural arts of Asia and are associated with world-famous festivals in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Far East. Kites have been flown for pleasure; for sport, in kite-fighting events; as ceremonial offerings and gifts of thanks to gods and ancestors; to bring good luck and ward off danger; to assist in warfare; to predict the harvest; to catch fish; to lift building material; and to celebrate the lunar New Year and other seasonal and national holidays.
Categories: Visual art
This clock haunted me from the first time I saw it. If I had been in an art museum or gallery, I would have interpreted its gaping bullet hole as an artist’s anguished gesture of protest against the inexorable passage of time. But seeing it in Telling New Mexico, the long-term core exhibition of New Mexico History Museum, the clock drew me into its backstory.
Categories: Visual art
BY DANIEL KOSHAREK Bronc riding, calf roping, and steer wrestling may not be pastimes for old men, but taking pictures of the action sure as heck is. Sam Adams, a retired literary agent for motion pictures and television, has been taking/making photographs since he was nine years old and spent five years documenting the rodeo circuit at the turn of the twenty-first century.
Categories: Featured, Visual art
