Countermapping Arizona: Chronicle of cohort and convening
Countermapping Arizona culminated in a collaborative gathering centering indigeneity and strengthening state-wide networks of support for Arizona artists.
By Melissa Dunmore
The concept of countermapping has a rich and textured history within Indigenous communities. It serves as a way to tell stories that are embedded in the land and reclaim the concept of maps, and even linear timekeeping, for communal and ceremonial purposes rather than conquest.
In August, a convening a long time in the making of intrepid and Indigenous minds took place in Phoenix and Tempe. Funded by an NEA Grant with support from the Mellon Foundation’s Projecting All Voices Fellowship, and hosted by the ASU Studio for Creativity, Place and Equitable Communities, the Countermapping Arizona: Rebuilding BIPOC Artistic Ecosystems Across Borders cohort is composed of lead artist Jake Skeets (Diné), printmaker Makaye Lewis (Tohono O’odham), poet and storyteller Manny Loley (Diné) and painter and dancer Sky Duncan (Apache/Hidatsa/Arikara/Mandan). These artists were deliberately chosen because they represent a breadth of regions, mediums and perspectives. This convening was more than a meeting, however. In the words of Jake Skeets, “The convening is the art.”
After a year and a half of virtual collaboration due to the pandemic and travel restrictions, the cohort finally met in person over the course of three days beginning on August 24, 2023, for an intensive itinerary jointly designed by the artists alongside ASU Studio staff Miranda De La Huerta and Gabriela Muñoz, to foster site-specific connections betwixt creatives and, more broadly, the Phoenix Metro area. The artists themselves do not reside in Phoenix and instead call other urban and rural locations home. The shared vision for the experience served as an opportunity to explore and situate themselves in the state’s capital where some attended ASU and have family living nearby.
Palabras Bilingual Bookstore was the first intentional site selection, because many were familiar with the space. ASU Studio has partnered with Palabras on previous events, including convenings of the Studio’s other signature project, Projecting All Voices. Jeff Slim, a Diné artist whose work is featured throughout the community hub and who co-operates with Rosaura “Chawa” Magaña, was known to several of the visiting artists. The group members were given stipends for research materials and chose a variety of publications, from children’s books and graphic novels to an anthology of eco-literature.
From there, the group visited the Heard Museum, which is dedicated to the advancement of American Indian art. The cohort briefly joined a public tour before breaking off to explore independently. Highlights included a video installation of tribal lands that is part of an exhibition titled “Substance of Stars,” which proved to be particularly impactful, immersive and meditative, as well as poetry and prints by Tracy Cannon that conjoined contemporary works with the more traditional elements.
Lunch followed at the Courtyard Cafe with local arts administrators, including Miki Garcia, director and professor of practice at ASU Art Museum; Alycia de Mesa, an Indigenous Education Specialist at Labriola Center; curator Lauren O’Connell from Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art (SMOCA); and Claudia López, the Bilingual Communications Specialist with Phoenix Art Museum and a member of Cahokia. Sky has a longstanding involvement with the Indian Market at Heard Museum, where he teaches dance classes to children alongside his family, which was to take place a couple of weeks after this Convening.
From there, the group journeyed to ASU’s main campus and West Hall where they wrapped the first day and got familiar with the space that would serve as their primary location for day two. West Hall is collocated with the Secret Garden, an ideal place for imagining and innovation. The following morning, the conversation encompassed the nuance of making a living as a working artist and the balance between exhibition and exploitation, as well as a longer discussion of their experiences of life under quarantine on the reservations.
Most of the group were on tribal lands during COVID-19 and noticed an increase in police presence, including Border Patrol, and a concerted effort by the state to control the flow of goods and people with increased checkpoints and grocery shopping limited to only certain hours, for instance. This revealed the means of the state to limit freedom of movement, commerce and expression, and necessitated an individual and group desire for countermapping as a lived reality.
Within West Hall, Jake, Makaye, Manny and Sky were able to co-create in a shared studio space. Makaye led the group in an impromptu workshop involving linocuts, and it was the first time Jake and Manny experimented with printmaking. The ensuing designs were a unique foray into what Manny called “taking away to create art instead of adding”, which is an approach one can apply to countermapping landscapes to uncover the hidden stories within. The experience of printmaking, and freedom of creation, to try something new without the pressure of creating something museum-worthy resounded with each artist and was an invaluable aspect of their collaboration.
After an afternoon of art in real-time, the group adjourned to dinner at nearby Caffe Boa, a sustainable and locally owned and operated restaurant. Guests of the dinner included Anna Needham (Red Lake Ojibwe), the Tribal Relations Manager at Arizona Commission of the Arts; Alana Hernandez, the Senior Curator of Latinx Art at ASU Art Museum from CALA Alliance, and Jacob Meders, founder and print maker of WarBird Press.
Day three began with a meeting at the Labriola National American Indian Data Center located within Hayden Library, hosted by program coordinators Eric Hardy and Yitazba Largo-Anderson. There, the group was pleasantly surprised to find Jake’s book on display. It is interesting how an artist’s work can be a part of a place without the artist having ever been there physically and how ideas and art have the ability to traverse, and transform, as though they, too, are alive.
The purpose of the convening was to gather the artists together, in the same space and time, after months of remote work and shared dreaming. And importantly, the goal was not an art deliverable; art made during their time together is not necessarily for display. The ability to expand artistically by leaning into each other’s chosen mediums without the pressure to produce a finished product, and the permission to play, is invaluable to artists at any phase in their career: a countermapping approach to art making.
Each of these artists is a map for their communities, demonstrating how it is possible to pursue art as a vocation as full-time and teaching artists. They are showing their children and elders alike how to map memories, meaning and craft across generations by taking art forms they learned informally, through circles of influence, as well as formally vis-a-vis institutions. How to map memories and meaning across generations, and how to leave their mark on the landscapes both tangible and conjured, are active pursuits. Wherever their paths lead, they gave their time and trust to an ephemeral and inspiring convening.
To learn more about their journeys and the rich possibilities ahead for Jake, Makaye, Manny and Sky, read individual artist bios here.
