Photo courtesy of Jason Ordaz, IAIA, 2019.
Biography
Makaye Lewis (Tohono O’odham) is a multi-disciplinary artist, born in 1996. Lewis comes from the small, secluded village of Ventana on the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona. Her hometown has a current population of forty-nine and is located sixty miles from the Mexican border. Lewis says that she is informed by her Tohono O’odham heritage and people; her artwork is an extension of both environmental influences and cultural narratives. “My practice is a product of my exploration of creative processes and observational studies.” She received her Associate of Fine Arts at Tohono O’odham Community College in 2017 and went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM in 2020. Lewis is a recipient of the Walt Disney Company Scholarship. Her work has been highlighted in the following Institute of American Indian Arts exhibitions: Visitors and Intruders, and Thirteen in 2019, Small Mediums At Large and Día de Los Muertos: More than Sugar Skulls in 2018, and Art Rush in 2017.
Artist Statement
Informed by my background as Tohono O’odham, my art stems from environmental influences as well as cultural aspects. My works are a product of my exploration of creative processes and observational studies. I primarily focus on the environment of my reservation, closely studying the animals, plants and landscapes to show the beauty as well as the reality behind it.
Being a border reservation and never having been removed from our traditional lands, I find a lot of comfort in knowing that I am where I was meant to be but I also find a lot of discomfort in knowing the many issues that arise when an imaginary political line leaves half my reservation in the U.S. and the other half in Mexico.
Makaye Lewis (Tohono O’odham) is a multi-disciplinary artist, born in 1996. Lewis comes from the small, secluded village of Ventana on the Tohono O’odham Nation in Arizona. Her hometown has a current population of forty-nine and is located sixty miles from the Mexican border. Lewis says that she is informed by her Tohono O’odham heritage and people; her artwork is an extension of both environmental influences and cultural narratives. “My practice is a product of my exploration of creative processes and observational studies.” She received her Associate of Fine Arts at Tohono O’odham Community College in 2017 and went on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, NM in 2020. Lewis is a recipient of the Walt Disney Company Scholarship. Her work has been highlighted in the following Institute of American Indian Arts exhibitions: Visitors and Intruders, and Thirteen in 2019, Small Mediums At Large and Día de Los Muertos: More than Sugar Skulls in 2018, and Art Rush in 2017.
Artist Statement
Informed by my background as Tohono O’odham, my art stems from environmental influences as well as cultural aspects. My works are a product of my exploration of creative processes and observational studies. I primarily focus on the environment of my reservation, closely studying the animals, plants and landscapes to show the beauty as well as the reality behind it.
Being a border reservation and never having been removed from our traditional lands, I find a lot of comfort in knowing that I am where I was meant to be but I also find a lot of discomfort in knowing the many issues that arise when an imaginary political line leaves half my reservation in the U.S. and the other half in Mexico.
