A pair of silver gelatin cameraless photographs, marked by painterly drips and splatters of photo chemistry and punctured by delicate patterns of red glass beads, were the first works by Dakota Mace [MFA ’19] that I encountered in person. This diptych, Náhookǫs Bikǫʼ I, registered as much more than an aesthetic exercise; these chemigrams presented a field of information about Diné culture, cosmology, and the design motifs that carry stories through ancestral lines of cultural practices. My research in experimental approaches to photo-sensitive materials had led me to visit and write about Direct Contact: Cameraless Photography Now, a diverse exhibition of works that pushed the boundaries of photography to mesmerizing effect. Since then, I have followed Dakota Mace’s work and career with fervent interest. She is a Diné (Navajo) artist whose interdisciplinary practice exemplifies the traits of Indigenous aesthetics: sovereignty, kinship, ceremonial customs, storytelling, and deep connections to homelands and place. Materiality and ancestral memory emerge as the most salient elements, and the following overview of her recent solo exhibition, with insights gleaned from a lengthy conversation at her studio, demonstrate the ways that Mace has found balance between vigorous experimentation and Diné tradition.
