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"The Deep Remembering"

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"The Deep Remembering"

Date: 1998
Artist or Maker: Alex Seowtewa (b. 1933)
Dimensions:
Overall: 43.8 x 36.8 cm (17 1/4 x 14 1/2 in.)
Medium: paper | pastels
Place Made:
Zuni Pueblo, McKinley County, New Mexico, Southwest, United States, North America
Object Number: SAR.1999-4-7
Not on view
DescriptionPastel on paper. A pictorial in browns and ochres. In foreground a modern scene is drawn in which an older man sits with a teenaged boy at a table. The elder points toward the left foreground. The boy rests his right hand on table on top of several books, the top one titled "English." Next to the books is a basketball. In mid-ground a Shalako kokko dances in front of an old pueblo with corn growing in front of it. In the left background, a male ancestor dressed in deerskin and winter boots is creating petroglyphs on a rock wall that includes the migration spiral, several animals, and a Kokopelli. In right background, appearing to hang in the sky, is a sun symbol surrounded by two four-pointed Zuni stars. Artist's signature, "Alex Seowtewa © '98" is in lower right hand corner.
Tribal Collection Review RemarksOctavius Seowtewa during collection review visit Nov. 16 and 17, 2009 (Events Record “Collection Review: Zuni Tribe, Review 3”): The artist, Alex Seowtewa, is Octavius Seowtewa’s father. Mr. Seowtewa (Octavius) explained that the older man appears to be telling the boy winter stories; certain stories can only be told during winter, in accordance with Zuni tradition. The ancestor making the pictographs while wearing winter boots and a warm hide, the fire that is burning in the fireplace, and the Shalako kokko (which dances in winter) are all indications that winter stories are being told.
In Collection(s)
Bibliography:
The Indian Arts Research Center, in collaboration with Native American community scholars, strives to present accurate collections records. Records may be updated as new information becomes available and is reviewed with the Native American community having cultural affinity to particular items. Please write to iarc@sarsf.org if you have questions or concerns related to the documentation.