"There's No Place Like Home Dinétah-Diné Bikéyah Navajo Land" is a collaborative piece with Navajo artist Lyndon Tsosie. The belt pays tribute to the 400+ Navajo warriors who played a crucial role in WW2. Over 80 years ago, 29 Navajo warriors bravely used their language and prayers as Code Talkers in WWII, sending over 800 messages with accuracy and speed on Iwo Jima. This belt pays tribute to their service and sacrifice, crafted with various materials symbolizing Navajo culture. The significance of the belt's design represents the burdens these warriors carried and the secrecy they maintained for years. Today, only three living Navajo Marine Code Talkers remain, and we honor their legacy.
As a Navajo woman, born and raised on the Navajo Nation, I am honored to present a visual memorial to the Navajo Code Talkers through a lens filled with history and the beauty of the Navajo way of life with Lyndon Tsosie. The Code Talker belt consists of unique stamps, images and the use of the Navajo language Code. All elements merge creating a composition of language, historical references, (i.e. uniforms, locations) and Traditional Navajo imagery.
Paintings (Skylar Blackbull): The text is printed on a tight knit thread canvas, then carefully transferred with an original method using an acrylic medium. After the text transfer, each image is hand painted with oil to create a harmonious result of text and image. The text on half of the canvases are the names of the original twenty-nine Navajo Code Talkers. The Navajo text on the other half of canvases is the important message transmitted during the Battle of Iwo Jima. The code translates to, “Send Demolition Team to Hill 362B.” 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.
Description: Navajo Concho Belt. 3 1/8"x4 1/8" buckle and conchos; 2"x1" oil painting; 44" leather belt
SilverSmith work (Lyndon Tsosie): The belt is crafted from Tufa Cast Ingots rolled through a mill to create sheets, hand-stamped with handmade stamps. Features Inlays of Coral, Ebony, Jade, North American Turquoise, fossilized Mammoth and Walrus Ivory, cocobolo wood, and lapis. The glass covering the painting is hand-cut Quartz crystal.
Best Of show: Autry Museum Indian Art Market & Fair 2024
1st place In Diverse Cultural Arts: Autry Museum Indian Art Market & Fair 2024
1st Place in Jewelry, Lapidary, and Metalwork: Heard Guild Museum Indian Art Market 2024
1st place In Jewelry Division C: Santa Fe Indian Market 2024
