Thanks to Jonathan Thompson for tackling the complex issues in “A Monumental Divide”, and to High Country News for continuing their support of the issues swirling around the Bears Ears national monument.
Recently, a photographer friend shared an image of a baby’s footprint, carefully impressed into the mortar of a pueblo room block, somewhere on area designated as monument lands. This was a strong reminder of whose homeland this really is.
I am a potter and sculptor, occasional poet and writer, who turns to this landscape again and again, for inspiration, for solace, for the simple pleasure of walking, breathing, being where not too many boot prints mark the ground. The issue that needs to be underlined is preservation, not ownership. By respecting the ancestral peoples who came before, there is the possibility of having a viable relationship with this landscape now and for future generations.
Let us now and forever raise our cups to wilderness – I invite you to join with me in celebrating this land. The pieces that I create are reminders of how art can be a talisman for the relationship to a special place.
Janet
