Bruce Silverstein Gallery will present its first solo exhibition of Diné artist Dakota Mace May 6 – June 25, 2022. The exhibition, Diné Bé’ Iiná (The Diné Lifeway), will feature chemigrams, beaded cyanotypes, weavings, and editioned prints that will explore Mace’s chemistry-based and multi-faceted processes that focus on translating the language of Diné (Navajo) history and beliefs. Choosing materials deliberately, Dakota Mace art reinterprets the symbols of creation stories, cosmologies, and social structures.
“The materials I use, both traditional and non-traditional, are connected to the places they reside, the memories they hold, and the complexities they share to our lineage,” Dakota Mace said.
Mace utilizes design elements from her heritage, most often incorporating the motif of Na’ashjéii Asdzáá, Spider-Woman, who is one of the most important deities to the Diné. Spider-Woman played an integral part in preserving the lives of the Diné by guiding the earliest weavers so they could provide for themselves and teach ways of balance within the mind, body, and soul.
