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Birth of the World (from the series Puye Cliff Dwelling, New Mexico)
Birth of the World (from the series Puye Cliff Dwelling, New Mexico)
Birth of the World (from the series Puye Cliff Dwelling, New Mexico)

Birth of the World (from the series Puye Cliff Dwelling, New Mexico)

Artist (American, born 1936)
Date1990
Mediumsilver-dye bleach print
DimensionsImage: 8 1/4 × 10 in. (21 × 25.4 cm)
Support: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Barbara Kasten in honor of Joyce Peters, 2014
Object number2014.15.1
DescriptionKiva/circular structure of walls (in green) and roof (blue) with an opening at center left from which protrudes a wooden ladder.
Text Entries

This is a Cibachrome print made from a 4x5 transparency.

 

About this series, the artist writes: “I made this series of photographs to honor the Native Americans and their spiritual heritage. Looking for the spiritual resonance I feel when in New Mexico, I hoped to present a basic human expression of honor and respect for ancestors of every race. It is appropriate to give these images to the New Mexico Museum of Art in honor of Joyce Merchant Peters, whose family has been a part of New Mexico for generations. The landscape, history and the people lived in her heart.” (e-mail message to Katherine Ware, 7/15/14).
During a 1990 visit to the Puye Cliff Dwellings in northern New Mexico, ancestral home to the people of Santa Clara Pueblo, the artist was inspired to make a series of photographs to evoke her experience of the spirituality of the place and to honor Native Americans, as well as the ancestors of all peoples.
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