The Art Of The Rural: The People Speak: New Work From Jetsonorama

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

The People Speak: New Work From Jetsonorama

Wheat paste of CJ at the Tuba City, AZ, rodeo grounds on fair day; Jetsonorama

Where else would you find a black guy applying wallpaper to the outside of an outhouse at 7 in the morning at a rodeo on an indian reservation? Only in America.

- Fred, a stock contractor, to Jetsonorama

We're back today with an update on Jetsonorama's most recent work, which emerges out of the Navajo Nation and crosses all kinds of rural-urban and rural-international boundaries. We've written before on the context and process behind these wheatepaste murals, so please refer to those related articles below, and please also visit Jetsonorama's site for larger, high-resolution examples of these images.

The artist at work recently in Phoenix; Jetsonorama

Here's an excerpt from Jetsonorama's statement on how the "The People Speak" series began. This confluence of art and environmental action has continued across mediums, from the reservation to the city:

i'd been talking with my buddy + fellow photographer, activist, q, about doing street art to raise awareness around the use of reclaimed waste water on the peaks. it's like, we've got the means to craft the message about the desecration of a sacred space and a method for disseminating that message, let's use it.

then one day while driving to flagstaff it hit me. i wanted to use images of elders to express how they felt about the situation. then, whatever they said, i'd excerpt a bit to write on their faces. now, what elders do i know who will let me do that? photographer, artist, activist, sam minkler was the first person i thought of. i called him by antelope hills, just north of town, and less than 2 hours later we'd knocked his session out.

sam said "...faces are sacred. faces are beautiful. we walk on the face of the earth. the mountain is a beautiful, sacred place that needs to be protected. in beauty i walk."

A wide range of artists, musicians, and everyday citizens have volunteered their time and their words to the project. Folks can visit www.truesnow.org and Indigenous Action Media for more information on efforts to keep this reclaimed waste water off the peaks.