{"id":74113,"date":"2024-02-09T11:22:40","date_gmt":"2024-02-09T18:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/?p=74113"},"modified":"2024-02-16T06:33:21","modified_gmt":"2024-02-16T13:33:21","slug":"eugene-tapahes-hozho-art-heals-unearths-and-elevates-our-connections-to-the-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/artistsofutah.org\/15Bytes\/eugene-tapahes-hozho-art-heals-unearths-and-elevates-our-connections-to-the-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Eugene Tapahe’s “H\u00f3zh\u00f3 + Art Heals” Unearths and Elevates Our Connections to the Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Details from Eugene Tapahe’s installation, “K\u00e9yah,” part of H\u00f3zh\u00f3 + Art Heals<\/i> at BYU’s Weight Room Gallery. Image credit: Karilee Park<\/p><\/div>\n

There are things in life that are predictable, normalcy that we can expect, bringing security in the ordinary. Dirt, for example, is often, quite literally, below our notice. It is a guarantee of firmness beneath our feet, allowing us to step with little thought or worry. In H\u00f3zh\u00f3 + Art Heals,<\/i> Eugene Tapahe\u2019s MFA show currently at BYU\u2019s Weight Room Gallery, the artist elevates dirt to our awareness. His “K\u00e9yah” features 96 soil samples collected from the United States and Canada. The collection showcases a variety of colors\u2014rust reds, deep blue grays, and pale neutrals\u2014and textures, ranging from finely ground sands to coarse, rock-filled soils. These reflect the intricate diversities of the people, places and communities inhabiting North America. The installation is a natural example of repetition with variation: finding solace in commonality and beauty in variegation. These samples sit on a bed of red earth with a cross of corn pollen in its center\u2014an offering to Mother Earth.<\/h4>\n

H\u00f3zh\u00f3, a Din\u00e9 Bizaad (or Navajo) word that means \u201cwalking in beauty,\u201d is also a philosophy of life, a reference to the beauty and balance that permeates through the physical senses as a way of life and a state of being. How often do we think of the land under our feet as we walk? Who walked the path before rubber soles crunched through gritty sand or soft soil? Did their steps affect our present ones? For the video installation “K\u00e9yah Yi\u0142,” Tapahe filmed a meditative and ritualistic walk he undertook in Monument Valley, AZ. It is a tribute to his ancestral connection with the land and follows the pattern of the four sacred directions. Land and water are represented in the circular design he walks, as he leaves Mother Earth a personal offering of corn at the circular design\u2019s center.<\/h4>\n
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Installation view of “K\u00e9yah Yi\u0142.” Image credit: Karilee Park.<\/p><\/div>\n

The four sacred directions also appear in “Nahasdz\u00e1\u00e1n,” a prayer and offering that begins with the East and moves to the South and West before\u00a0 ending with North. In Tapahe’s exhibition, each direction has its own 24 x 24-inch sand work, with the Din\u00e9 Bizaad word for \u201cthe world\u201d or \u201cthe earth\u201d in white, barely noticeable, above. Each directional design incorporates circles, creating balance. Natural installations of grasses and sand instill a feeling of groundedness. The smell of earth and dried plants fills the small space. The smell is clean, but strong. For some it may carry memories, and for others it may create new ones. Our senses hold memory. Even the faintest of sensations can transport us to the nostalgic or the tragic, like an internal time-machine. Whether events return with clarity or only with fragments of familiarity, we feel it pull or push \u2014 an unseen anchor or an invisible propulsion that influences perspective and action in ways we cannot always control.<\/h4>\n