Interdisciplinary artist Dakota Mace uses alternative photography techniques, weaving, papermaking, and beadwork to address and explore her relationship to her Diné (Navajo) heritage, exploring themes of family lineage, community, and identity. Mace has worked with numerous institutions and programs to develop dialogue on cultural appropriation and the importance of Indigenous design work.
Through her work, Mace explores the past, present, and future with forms inspired by Kinétah (land). In addition, her work pushes the viewer's understanding of Diné culture through the materials she uses, both traditional and nontraditional, which are connected to the places Diné reside, the memories that they hold, and the complexities that they share with Diné lineage.
“For the Dinétah (Navajo people), there is a special relationship to the land and the natural materials that it provides,” Mace writes. “Through the process of making, I focus on the importance of these materials by mimicking the tones, vegetation, animal hides, and stones found within the land. Through materials, a visual language is expressed through the calm resonance of Hózhó Nahasdlii (living within balance).
“The vastness of Dinébikéyah (the Diné homeland) is rich with the narratives within the landscape,” Mace continues. “It is believed that to understand the Diné, you must place yourself into the world of Diné tradition. There is a poetic understanding of our artmaking and the importance of the sacred ideologies embedded into every piece, which has a quiet voice that resonates deep within the object.
"Art is essential to our beliefs and can be seen as a lifeline within our culture, our land, and the histories that are a part of our identity. With each connection, tradition remains central to the fundamental understanding of the Diné, a line between one generation to the next. It is Nihá (for us).”
Mace’s work belongs to the Library of Congress, Whitney Museum of American Art, Amon Carter Museum, National Gallery of Art, and Museum of Contemporary Photography, among other public collections. Mace is an MFA in Studio Arts Faculty member at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the photographer for the Helen Louise Allen Textile Center and the Center of Design and Material Culture. She is represented by Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York City.
Mace received her MA and MFA degrees in Photography and Textile Design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her BFA in Photography from the Institute of American Indian Arts.
