Husk of Time

Photographer and filmmaker Victor Masayesva, Jr., was raised in the Hopi village of Hotevilla and was educated at the Horace Mann School in New York, Princeton University, and the University of Arizona. His immersion in photographic experimentation embraces a projection of stories and symbols, natural objects, and locations both at Hopi and worldwide. His work has been exhibited internationally, and he is perhaps best known for his feature-length film Imagining Indians. For Masayesva, photography is a discipline that he approaches in a manner similar to the way that he was taught about himself and his clan identity. As he navigates his personal associations with Hopi subject matter in varied investigations of biology, ecology, humanity, history, planetary energy, places remembered, and musings on things broken and whole, he has created an extraordinary visual cosmography. In this compilation of his photographic journey, Masayesva presents some of the most important and vibrant images of that visual quest and reflects on them in provocative essays.

Author and photographer Victor Masayesva, Jr. is widely recognized as an independent Hopi film producer and director who is at the forefront of experimental work in the Native American film and video community. He was co-editor (with Erin Younger) of Hopi Photographers/Hopi Images (University of Arizona Press, 1983), has been the recipient of numerous awards, and has served as guest artist-in-residence at major art centers. Masayesva currently works to nurture young, talented film and video makers and to help unify independent Native media artists to further their access to production resources. Beverly R. Singer is from Santa Clara Pueblo, having Tewa and Dine ancestry. She is an associate professor of anthropology and Native American studies at the University of New Mexico and is a producer of independent documentary programs that highlight current native perspectives. She is author of Wiping the War Paint Off the Lens: Native American Film and Video.