Hopi, Navajo and Western Art Festival

I was at a Western and Native American art festival. The Hopi and Navajo sculptures were exquisite with bronze base and turquoise inlays. When looking at Hopi sculptures depicting women, I was struck with the effaced facial features – all sculptures had the same face, flat, round and impersonal. Further, the bodies were of a giant tear drop shape. When I asked the sculptor about the reason for such presentation, she said:

“We do not show specific facial features. Hopi are all “one people”; there is no distinction among us. As for the body shape, it is the shape of a gourd, which is the fruit of the calabash tree. It is the fruit we use most for eating but also for making containers and kitchen utensils from it.”

So, I walked around, with my 1960’s Nikkor-P 180mm 2.8 lens.

The first “street photograph” I noticed was an artist’s case under a tree, near his/her paintings. The sun was soft just before sunset and the serendipitous placement of the case just perfect.  What delighted me was the carry sling on the old case as it was a 33mm camera strap from the 1960s and 1970s! One can see the film canister loops on it.  

The ceremonial headpiece on this statue was delicately carved, yet what interested me was the placing of this Chief into a modern context. A few minutes of wait and a man positioned himself perfectly in the background. With the lens diaphragm open at f2.8 I was able to blur him while focusing on the statue.  A shaved head contrasting the plumes and dear hide – it was a time capsule of sorts.

This last shot was totally unplanned and an example of that elusive “decisive moment.”  Took me a second to focus and click. I thought the long horn bull was perfectly placed to tell a story regarding the body posture of the woman. 

It was later on when I looked at the printed picture that I wondered “What does the legend say?” So, I enlarged it and could not stop laughing! Perhaps I had captured a moment that made the title of this painting most à propos…..

... It is for moments like this that I continue to carry the 4 pounds of a Nikon F3 and its venerable 180mm lens around my neck….

May 24, 2015

©Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2015