Canyon de Chelly, Arizona (Spider Rock)
Artist
Joan Myers
(American, born 1944)
Printer
Wendy Young
(American, born 1963)
Date2013
MediumPigment print
DimensionsImage: 22 × 14 1/2 in. (55.9 × 36.8 cm)
Support: 24 × 16 3/4 in. (61 × 42.5 cm)
Support: 24 × 16 3/4 in. (61 × 42.5 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Joan Myers, 2017
Object number2017.5.26
DescriptionBlack bird perched atop a bar tree, rocky mesa cliff in the background.eMuseum Notes
Acutely aware of the iconography and symbols
used to romanticize life in the West, Myers photographs the intersecting spaces
where contemporary Western life, often raw and complex, overlaps with myth. The
artist contrasts imagery of the natural world with the man-made, often using
highly saturated color to emphasize the commercialization and commodification
of the West. In other images, she shoots in black-and-white, channeling old
movies and a patina of nostalgia. The resulting images constitute a rich visual
tapestry that weaves together American mythology of the West with its many
histories and present-day practices.
On View
Not on viewTerms
- landscape archaeology
- Western North American Paleo-Indian periods
- deserts
- geology
Janet Russek
1984 (printed 2003)
