LA BALLENA

O’odham Name: Unknown to me.

Meaning: Unknown to me. 

This mountain is referred to as “La Ballena” (“The Whale”). It resides on the traditional lands of the Tohono O'odham, which are currently being occupied by the Bureau of Land Management — an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. The colonial name used to refer to this mountain is Coffeepot Mountain.

PORTRAIT PROCESS VIDEO

Some of the items I worked with to create the portraits include: the end of a broken shaving razor, an empty tuna packet, a piece of ripped camouflage cloth, rusty cans, a black water gallon, broken glass, and a mop slipper. I also worked with unrooted plants and land relatives such as: dried saguaro cactus ribs, ocotillo limbs, palo verde branches, rocks, and tierra. I used these elements to paint the portraits because –like the mountains– they are members of this ecosystem and carry a certain energy important to the portrayal of this shared space.