Michael Chiago

This book offers an artistic depiction of Oodham lifeways through the paintings of internationally acclaimed Oodham artist Michael Chiago Sr. Ethnobiologist Amadeo M. Rea collaborated with the artist to describe the paintings in accompanying text, making this unique book a vital resource for cultural understanding and preservation. A joint effort in seeing, this work explores how the artist sees and interprets his culture through his art. A wide array of Chiagos paintings are represented in this book, illustrating past and present Akimel Oodham and Tohono Oodham culture. The paintings show the lives and traditions of Oodham people from both the artists parents and grandparents generations and today. The paintings demonstrate the colonial Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American influences on Oodham culture throughout the decades, and the text explains how wells and windmills, schools, border walls, and nonnative crops have brought about significant change in Oodham life. The paintings and text in this book beautifully depict a variety of Oodham lifeways, including the striking Sonoran Desert environment of Oodham country, gathering local foods and cooking meals, shrines, ceremonies, dances, and more. By combining Chiagos paintings of his lived experiences with Reas ethnographic work, this book offers a full, colorful, and powerful picture of Oodham heritage, culture, and language, creating a teaching reference for future generations.