Jetsonorama is an artist (and medical doctor) who has been living many years on Navajo Land in northeastern Arizona. His installation art, in the form of huge photographic posters pasted to the walls of various structures, you have very likely seen if you have crossed through the Nation any time in the past couple of years–and you kept your eyes open.
His goal with his poster project was to help instill and affirm pride among the Diné who live a tough life among the deserts, mountains, plateaus, arroyos, and washes of this beautiful painted land.
I stopped at one of his installation locations recently whilst on my way down to Tucson for a family visit. In this case, what caught my eye was the context within which I found his art–a run down ex-service station that advertised “Standard Oil Products”. The place was obviously of another era (happier and more hopeful??? or simply more exploited?)…and slowly crumbling and rusting into the dust from which it was erected, along with Jetsonorama’s huge photographs of sheep–a mainstay of the Navajo economy and diet.
Like urban street murals, when the elements begin to take their toll, the original artwork begins to take on additional depth and dimension…of time, certainly…but also of nostalgia…of loss…of inevitability…of that unavoidable cycle of life and death.
Here are a few images from near the turn off to Cow Springs, on the highway between Kayenta and Tuba City…
A poignant graffiti comment given the context. Jetsonorama’s sheep (now lost, sans herder, and wandering aimlessly through the ruins) can be seen on the far wall to the right:
The sheep, from a bit closer. The window frames a cleaner landscape:
A shadow catches the photographer at work:
