Funding for Colores was provided in part by: New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts and Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

and viewers like you.

Using theatrical compositions and dramatic color, photographer, Cara Romero transforms memories and stereotypes into powerful photographs to reclaim Native identity and imagine vibrant indigenous futures.

At the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute dancers and musicians embark on an immersive journey to bring the West African tradition of Sanja to life Using digital design, geometry and metallic threads Janice Lessman-Moss transforms, weaving into a visual language of reflection.

It's all a head on Colores Refocusing the Narrative >> Cara: I think we became a figment of people's imagination.

People were missing a connection to us as human beings, as living human beings.

And there was like, to me, a real danger, because then you lose the connection to a community's humanity.

>> Faith: With your work, there is a very theatrical quality to it, where it's almost like you're taking moments from memories and dreams and making them a reality in your photos.

Can you tell me what draws you to that approach?

>> Cara: I'm a daydreamer.

I think a lot of people ask about where the ideas come from, and I think that they just start forming in my mind's eye.

I start, you know, with stories or issues, and they begin to just kind of appear for me.

And photography is such an interesting medium to work with in that way.

You know, you can work with it in the way of documentation and capturing something that happened.

But you can also create a moment and you can create a moment that encompasses more and layer more and more and more, and you can play with time, and you can play with all sorts of visual and psychological communication with your audience.

>> Faith: With your water memory series, which I really loved.

What was it that you learned about yourself and your community with that series?

>> Cara: So, that one really started with one of those, like multiple mind's eye moments, and I could see the mysterious deluge of water and I began to wonder what it meant.

And I, thought about sea level rising.

I thought about climate change.

And then same simultaneously bgan to think about how our community had been flooded out for, you know, the advent of hydroelectric energy.

And that was a really common story between my community and other tribal communities.

Contemporary Native American communities were experiencing flooding in unprecedented ways.

And so, I really felt like it was something that I wanted to lean into and, explore.

But the art can become something much bigger to the world.

And I think that that particular series was deeply impactful.

I don't think that we had seen ourselves that way.

I think that our human relationship with water and the way it holds us, and how it's part of all life, had -- a deeper impact, than I ever imagined.

[Peaceful Music] [Upbeat Music] >>Faith: The other series that I found really interesting which, I really love all your all your series, honestly -- But the first American Girl series, what was the spark for that one?

>> Cara: Our daughter, she's dark complected Native American girl, and there wasn't really anything representative of who she is.

There were a few -- there was, like, a first American Girl doll that was Ojibwe.

We used to make her Cochiti clothing and furniture.

But other than that, there was a paucity of, you know, representation and, things that, you know, don't represent our diversity or our individual vernacular from each of our communities, how our regalia is different and emerges from each bio region.

And so I just went for it.

We built a life sized doll box.

The very first one was Kiowa-Comanche.

She was a traditional powwow dancer, and it was about that love for detail and accuracy and everything that she's surrounded by.

Her family made.

You know, it's not the disappointing pony beads and felt buckskin.

It's the real buckskin and, you know, beadwork that took five family members over a year to make.

And, you know, the different cultural accouterment that she's surrounded by.

And then the series kept going, and there's really no end to it.

Each one is incredibly diverse and different.

We had our first Alaska, and Kanaka Maoli.

And so, I think that the series, in that way, is kind of infinite because there's -- diversity in every single community.

>> Faith: The women that you collaborated with, what was like their response to seeing themselves represented like this?

>> Cara: We have so much beauty in our community, and I tend to really work with friends and family and take time.

I spend a couple of days and, you know, helping people to feel comfortable making sure that we're telling their stories, making sure that they like the way that they look.

We're often representing ideas bigger than ourselves or, you know, even our community.

And so I think building trust and giving the collaborators agency is really at the forefront of what I do in the creative process.

I think when people are documenting or making ethnographic images, of folks and they're from outside of the community, there's an edit on it, on what they think is interesting, you know?

And so these are really edited from the inside out.

And so, you know, we're telling stories together and giving agency.

And it's a really important part of the entire process.

[Etheral Music] >> Faith: You've described your work as being grounded in Indigenous-Futurism.

Can you explain to me what does that term mean to you?

>> Cara: So, Indigenous-Futurism is a genre.

It's an art movement that has popped up in different, communities Afro-Futurism, Latin-Futurism.

And I was really watching Native-Futurism for, you know, the past decade and wanted to be part of the conversation.

[Upbeat Music] I think one of the big takeaways that really excited me about the movement is the mantra, our whole life has been, “We're Still Here” is about screaming for acknowledgement of presence, of survivors, of resilience.

And, you know, we've made those strides.

Futurism is about this idea of imagining ourselves in the future for the first time.

You know, I think I really gravitate towards ideas that are hopeful and really, bringing forth ideas of indigenous science.

And as we talk about climate change, as we talk about the human condition, I think indigenous communities have deep insight.

You know, to heal people and planet.

And so -- all of this series that I've worked with in Indigenous- Futurism are really honing in on this idea of the really old coming through into this speculative future.

So, they're fun and they're Sci-Fi.

But there's an important message.

[Upbeat Music] >> Faith: I really loved the, Three Sisters piece that you did Could you talk a little bit about that in the context of Indigenous-Futurism?

>> Cara: I really wanted it to be a futuristic set.

I wanted to paint them in blue light.

There's dry ice, there's twinkly lights.

The wires coming in.

Each of them have their ancestral, tribal designs tattooed onto their skin.

You know, the wires, you know, really speaking to this idea of connectivity.

But the wires are not meant to, you know, be bringing information in.

It's really like the information that these women hold.

You know, being a source of healing for people and planet.

So, people are surviving by their life energy, you know, radiating out.

[Futuristic Music] >> Faith: Talking about the future.

What do you hope native youth take away from seeing themselves reflected in your work?

>> Cara: I grew up without a ton of accurate representation that celebrated diversity in our -- even within our communities.

And I hope that all native people can find a sense of humor, that they can see themselves and, you know -- be happy to see themselves in a living, present tense.

I think I really try and counter narratives of stereotypical representation.

I hope that that expands not only cross-culturally, how people think of us and who we can be and what we can be.

But I hope native youth realize that they can be anything that they want to be and that, we're part of these greater dialogs and -- and belong as part of deeper dialogs.

[Etheral Music] LEARNING THE RHYTHM [Rhythmic Drums] >> Telise: We are here at the Pivot Center for art, music, dance and expression.

Tonight we are starting a premier piece called, “Sanja of the Blood” Company members know nothing about this piece.

Some of them may know a little bit if they've done some of our international travel voyages to West Africa.

But tonight, our dancers are going to get the opportunity to experience the music and the history and the folklore of Sanja before we start diving into some of the dance techniques [Altogether Speaking Manding] Our Musical Director Weedie Braimah has gone to Mali numerous times and he's like an encyclopedia when it comes to music, when it comes to folklore.

So, he's going to be diving into the music.

[Clapping] The dancers have to learn the rhythms.

The musicians have to learn the rhytms Everybody learns the songs.

[Altogether speaking Manding] [Director singing Manding] One.

Two.

Three.

[Singing Altogether] >> Weedie: My main job is to focus how this music elevates them as artists and also how the way that it elevates the audience.

We're preparing for a new piece, its a traditional folkloric that comes from Mali, by way of the ethnic group of the Manding called Sandia, the word Sandia means New Year.

But it's done in honor of griots which are the oral historians.

And the word for griot in the Manding language is “Djeloi” that's spelled D-J-E-L-O-I [Singing in Manding] >> Weedie: They're the ones to maintain the history, to Mantain a knowledge maintain the culture maintain the preservation of narrative that's created within certain villages and certain areas.

[Singing in Manding] >> Talise: Sometimes once a week a month, specifically in Mali, i in West Africa, And people will go and the griots will show up and they wil sing the praises of your family.

[Altogether singing in Manding] It's a communal event, so it's very lively.

[Altogether singing in Manding] >> Weedie: My main goal is for them to at least understand the timing of the music and how it goes, the way the songs fits into the music and how understand and the groove of the music.

[Weedie in class] Four times.

One.

Two.

Three.

[Altogther singing in Manding] >> Talise: They're going to get they're going to get the folklore.

They're going to get the musical foundations of songs They're going to learn the rhythms because that enhances their ability to dance it with happiness.

With Jubilee, [Talise in Class] You see the difference?

>> Talise: The word Djapo itself means, “together.” And that's part of our mission, bringing individuals together to learn about the art, music, dance, history and folklore of Africa and throughout the diaspora.

[West African Music] If you want to learn about a people, if you want to learn about a culture, dive into the art.

[West African Music] [Talise in Studio] It is almost there.

[Talise in Studio] I promise you.

[Talise in Studio] If y'all could just trust the floor.

Just that one time.

On that first one.

[Djembe Drums] >> Talise: Oh my goodness, we've made so much progress.

Our musical director has actually completed the orchestration of the music.

[Drums continue] So, I have actually created the village.

You know, as we talked about before, Sanja is an event with families and people who live, you know, in a compound or within the same area.

So, what I'm doing now is creating that celebratory village.

I'm recreating that space.

[Drums continue] >> Talise: We're still kind of working through it in placement.

I haven't really placed individuals yet.

I'm just filling that place where I'm seeing where people -- how they feel with the movements that's been given to them, so that we have all the choreography.

That's set, so now it's just kind of like moving through to see where those final moments will be.

My philosophy is no paper and pencil.

I want you to feel the music.

I want you to feel the song, understand the context and the foundational elements of the song and capture that.

And through practice, it just happens and we get it.

[Drums continue] I have to perform this for Dance Africa in Chicago.

I don't feel under the gun at all.

It's looking good.

It's just being able to bring the energy and to be able to show that for audiences because that's my goal, is to make audiences feel something.

[Singing in Manding] [Djembe Drums] >> Talise: We are complete.

It is a finished piece.

I'm so excited.

Like, it's really finished.

[Manding Music] >> Weedie: The music has this voice.

The dancers understand it has implemented what they've learned into their body, and the song is now understood.

And the intent of what the song and the dance represents, the music represents, is now connected.

[Altogether singing in Manding] >> Weedie: What I want people to take away from this, and the audience to take away from this is the beauty of longevity, tradition and speech.

Because the job of griot is to be able to speak in Manding [Altogether singing in Manding] >> Talise: I want them to take a a piece of history, a piece of Africa.

We've lost so much.

So, if you can get a piece of happiness, a piece of history, a piece of folklore, then we've done our jobs.

[Singing and Manding Music] [Audience Applause] [Singing and Manding Music] Counting threads.

>>Janice: When I say that I'm a weaver, people generally assume that I am making garments, or that I am making fabric for function.

And it takes a while for me to convince them that, in fact, it is a medium.

Just like painting, that allows you to create abstract images for the wall, for contemplation, for, you know, visual enjoyment.

And it usually doesn't resonate until they see them.

And then it makes sense because they recognize that I can do all of the things that other people can do with other mediums, with color and with form and with texture.

But it happens with that intersection of thread.

I work digitally, I do all my designs digitally, and I am interested in the kind of the mathematical aspects of working with geometric forms and the count of threads in both direction, you know, like that right brain, left brain kind of intersection that weaving, allows.

They allude to my interest in walking and walking is a very linear movement, and weaving is a very linear process.

Walking allows you to kind of mo forward, but also to kind of linger.

It's a slow movement.

Weaving is a slow process.

I always call it a slow art.

It's a very slow art.

And when I am designing, I'm actually thinking of that same notion of movement, kind of following a path.

So I create a path on a template of circles within squares, and I create these paths, and those paths end up being the of the contours or the outlines and they create sometimes they're just lines and sometimes they establish shapes and I put other patterns within those shapes.

So everything kind of builds in that same systematic way, in the kind of ordered way.

And yet deviates from any kind of real plan.

It's just that it is ordered because of the nature of the structure.

Once I've done the design, the weaving process itself is really following through on that plan.

I feed it to the loom and then the loom reads it, and then I press a button and the threads are raised according to what I have programed.

However, I mean, it's like an architect, you know, you have some design, you know, you can visualize and you can see, from your design.

This is what's going to happen.

What actually happens is sometimes different.

And the whole experience of coming in contact with this material and having it grow before your very eyes is amazing.

I've been working with metal introduced into the weaving for years, minimally work that I did in the spring of 2020.

At the beginning of the pandemic I started to put more and more metal into the weaving, which adds an element of shine.

And I felt, you know, in thinking about it, that it was this attempt to kind of create a sense of hope, you know, just have some little bright spots in my weaving.

They appear as you move around the weaving.

You see this, the shine kind of emanating, and then it'll tuck back behind.

So it's this sense of almost shadow and light.

And I like that kind of surprise that mystery.

And I started working with those smaller kind of orbs or circles of metal.

And then I introduced this one as I went kind of crazy with the introduction of the metal, because I just felt like I really wanted some light in there.

And I really love in this piece, they almost look like little trails of, like, slug trails.

That kind of a wet, trail that is illuminated depending on what the lighting is like.

And I love that it it's so imperfect that it has that sense of organic movement that is more like nature.

You learn so much every time you make something, you see something that that maybe you didn't think about before and it's a very satisfying journey.

I mean, you're going through life and you're able to make these visual statements, pieces that you hope other people enjoy looking at and finding meaning in.

Whether they see what I see in it isn't totally relevant.

The work is directed by it, by personal, you know, interest and inspiration, but people may look at it, they bring other histories to the engagement with the colors and the engagement with the relationship of lines and they might say, oh, it looks like this looks like that.

It reminds me of that.

So that's okay.

Good.

If you're looking at it and you're taking the time to think about it, I am happy about that.

I'm grateful for that.

The award winning arts and culture series Colores is now available on the PBS app, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and at NMPBS.org.

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Watch now on your favorite NMPBS platforms.

Funding for Colores was provided in part by New Mexico PBS Great Southwestern Arts and Education Endowment Fund, and the Nellita E. Walker Fund for KNME TV at the Albuquerque Community Foundation.

New Mexico Arts, a division of the Department of Cultural Affairs, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.

And viewers like you.