Chip Thomas
I am the Change 2015
Photograph of wall mural using paper, acrylic and gel medium, printed on dibond (30” x 143.75”)
Chip Thomas asked several friends what their feelings were about the sacred mountain slated to receive artificial snow made from reclaimed wastewater. With the help of Raechel Running, Stephanie Jackson and Rey Cantil, their words were written or painted onto their faces and the final images were wheat pasted.
Activist Klee Benally (lead singer + guitarist of the punk band, Blackfire), and his wife, Princess Benally said, “what we do to the mountain, we do to ourselves.”
Northern Arizona University climate change solutions grad student, Stephanie Jackson said, “I am the change.” She identified the things she’d like to change “industrialization, pollution, drought.” She went on to identify “earth, air, water, fake snow, CO2” as areas of concern.
Sam Minkler - Navajo traditionalist, Nau professor (and former member of the techno-traditional 90s band, Lunar Drive), said, “faces are sacred; faces are beautiful. We walk on the face of the earth. The peaks are a beautiful and sacred place that need to be protected.” Borrowing from a traditional, Navajo prayer, he concluded by saying “in beauty I walk.”
Local Flagstaff resident, John Running asked his neighbors to “consider the San Francisco peaks are sacred to natives + non-natives.”
Navajo painter Shonto Begay spoke from the perspective of the San Francisco peaks. His full comment was: “Long after you’re gone, I’ll be here. I am earth, I am fire, I am air, I am forever. The peaks, respect.”
Chip Thomas, AKA “jetsonorama,” is a native of North Carolina and a photographer, public artist, activist, and physician who has been working between Monument Valley and The Grand Canyon in the Navajo Nation since 1987. He coordinates the Painted Desert Project – a community building effort which manifests as a constellation of murals across the western Navajo Nation, painted by artists from all over the world. These murals aim to reflect love and appreciation of the rich history shared by the Navajo people back to Navajo people.
Website: https://jetsonorama.net
Instagram: @jetsonorama