Forum Network

Melanie Yazzie, contemporary Navajo multimedia artist, and visiting professor at the University of Arizona, gives a lecture and slideshow on "Holding the Truth: The Personal and Political in Art."

This event iss co-sponsored by the Harvard Native American Program.

Melanie Yazzie is a Dine (Navajo) artist of the salt and bitter water clans. Yazzie works in a variety of media including prints and ceramics, among others. Through her installations, she examines both internal and external influences on Native people. For instance, neither the cloth in the Dine skirts nor Blue Bird flower are indigenous to the Dine people, but after being filtered through the hearts and hands of one of its women, they become synonymous with it. The monotype is another example of art that challenges Native portrayal in the dominant culture. By using the personal example of her own family, Yazzie presents real portrayal of Native culture, without idealizing, degrading or commercializing it.