The latest artist in residence at a community studio in Albuquerque’s South Valley has created an art book that reflects on the connections between animals, the land, and people. It’s called Sacred Herd and launches on Friday at Risolana.
Jacob Gutierrez spoke with KUNM’s Mia Casas about the process of his residency. He opened with an excerpt from his book.
GUTIERREZ: We owe our lives to the animals who have always been by our side. Our story is and has always been intertwined with the land and its beings. I'm grateful to come from such a rich history here in New Mexico, one that includes my hooved ancestors that got me here today. Family members, both past and present, rely on faith and community to co-survive with the beings of this land. Our animals are not always treated with the respect they deserve, often being seen as nothing more, as a commodity. We learn to coexist with them, but we also must learn to appreciate them. We collectively share a heartbeat, both spiritually and physically, that we should always nurture and never take for granted. Though traditions fade with time, there are still cultural keepers preserving our meaning of life. I'm honored to have been welcomed by some of these ranchers and herders across New Mexico and the Navajo Nation, and to be trusted to share their stories. Through seven months of traveling, sharing meals and tending to livestock, I get to praise these animals through photographs, stories and hand carved wood blocks. Every animal I met had a different personality that opened me to a life beyond my own traditional ways sustain a life of reciprocal respect between us, the land and the animals. It's a blessing to share the world with such sacred beings.
KUNM: During your residency, you visited ranches across the state. What was that like?
GUTIERREZ: It's been the most rewarding thing I've done in my art career thus far. I wanted to make sure for this project, I wasn't coming from a place of being naive, I didn't want to come from a place of ignorance. And so through the project, I made it my mission and my goal to personally visit these people. And so I've traveled to Belen, Estancia, Peñasco, even, I went to the Four Corners area and the Navajo Nation. And I was kind of nervous at first, because I'm just like, kind of calling these people. I'm just like, emailing, I'm just finding these people, either through word of mouth or through the internet, really. I would just call them or text them and be like, ‘Hey, can I come to see the animals, you take care of, your way of life?’ And I was shocked a little bit. I was welcomed way more than I expected. It was open arms.
KUNM: Did you come into this residency knowing that you wanted to use this kind of medium to convey your story, or did you discover that over time, as the idea evolved?
GUTIERREZ: I came in with the idea of, well, I know what art books look like. I guess I'm gonna make something like that, and then every step of the way, either I was talking to one of the ranchers, or to someone who knows more about book making, talking to other artists. Every step built on the last one. And so I actually researched a few different book binding methods, and this is the one that kind of spoke to me the most. I was like, “oh, that's gonna make it feel like the most true to my heart, I guess.”
KUNM: What does having this opportunity to create this art and showcase it to the community mean to you?
GUTIERREZ: Oh, it means everything. I've been emotional all week just thinking about what this all means. Growing up, I did not imagine myself being an artist. Even in art school, I was like, ‘Well, why am I even doing this?’ So I've questioned kind of this trajectory that I've been on for the past several years. And I applied to the residency. And you know, as an artist, you apply to a lot of things, and 80% of the time you don't hear anything back. And so for this residency, I applied to and of course, I would love to have gotten it, but I didn't know if I would be able to get this opportunity. So when I finally got the email and Risolana brought me in, it felt like something I wanted to make worthwhile. I didn't see it as an opportunity to showcase my artwork. I finally got a platform, what am I going to do with it?
Sacred Herd will be presented to the community on Friday at 6 p.m. in Risolana’s new print studio. Ranches featured in Gutierrez’s work are donating food for the event.
Gutierrez's work will remain on display at Risolana until the end of January.
