Under a Rock, Along the Shore: Exhibition Guide

From a largely first-person perspective, under a rock, along the shore is about the eye and body's interactions with swiftly changing landscapes of the 21st century. It is keenly concerned with the craft of photography; through a dazzling array of processes and techniques, these artists plunge us into visual and tactile, cultural and political experiences of the Desert Southwest and other corners of the world.

Combining fiber work with cyanotypes depicting her family, Chavez’s quilt represents the numerous generations that blend to comprise her own existence. The work’s title references New Mexico’s prehistoric existence as an ocean floor.

Mace writes, “This is Joe Mace, a Diné elder from Ojo Encino, New Mexico. This piece represents my grandfather’s childhood, one of hardship and continued survival. The spoon […] is a remnant of his childhood home, a place that today is controlled by the Bureau of Land Management. On the left is the only existing photograph of Joe as a young man. It was taken in front of Fort Wingate, the residential boarding school he attended for four years. Fort Wingate is notorious for being the starting point for the forced removal of the Diné during the Long Walk to Bosque Redondo. This led to the loss of culture, language, and the historical trauma that still affects many Diné people today.”