The Unbreakable Code

The Unbreakable Code project brings recognition to the bravery and sacrifice of the Navajo Code Talkers during World War II. The Code Talkers restored our pride in our sacred language. The text in each image is one of the following twenty-nine names coded in Navajo from the Original Code Dictionary from WWII. The images of the eagle feathers, arrowheads, corn pollen, and tobacco are referencing the Ana’ í Ndááa’ (The Enemy Way) ceremony taken place before and after a Navajo soldier is sent to war. The ceremony protects them from harmful spirits. The colors reference the Navajo Medicine Wheel (sacred mountains) and red symbolizes blood shed during the war. All of these components are “hidden” to represent the Navajo Code Talkers inability to speak of what they did until after 1969. I am honored to present a visual memorial to the twenty-nine original Navajo Code Talkers through a lens filled with history and the beauty of my culture (way of life).

They are edited in Adobe Photoshop to create a harmonious result of text and image.