LA FAMILIA

O’odham Name: Wa:w O’la Do’ag

Meaning: Rounded rocks

Wa:w O’la Do’ag is also referred to as “La Familia” (The Family).  This mountain resides on occupied Tohono O’odham land and is currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Its colonial name is Locomotive Rock.

From “La Familia”, you can see “La Muela”, “El Buda” and “La Ballena” in the distance, which makes Wa:w O’la Do’ag a natural lookout for people navigating the desert.

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.