Hot Mirror Article: Eugene Tapahe: Healing and the Jingle Dress

 Via Hot Mirror

June 26, 2025

Togetherness, Sisters, Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, Goshute and Timpanogos, 2023

©Eugene Tapahe, Courtesy of Monroe Gallery

Eugene Tapahe: Healing and the Jingle Dress by Brian Byrd

Brian Byrd is a freelance photographer with more than two decades of experience advancing communication as a catalyst for social change. He serves on the board of directors for the Overseas Press Club of America and the advisory board for WITNESS, a global NGO founded by musician Peter Gabriel that uses video and digital technology to document human rights violations.

Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project - New Exhibit

While wandering through this year's Association of International Photography Dealers (AIPAD) show in New York City, it's easy to become overwhelmed by the vast number of photographs on display. Yet among the visual cacophony, the Monroe Gallery booth stood out as one of the few to highlight the work of Native American artists. Eugene Tapahe's photographs from his Art Heals project commanded attention—not merely for their striking colors juxtaposed against nature's beauty, but for the profound story they tell. These images, featuring jingle dress dancers in magnificent landscapes, invite viewers into a space where cultural heritage, environmental connection, and healing converge in visual harmony.

Walking in Beauty

"I draw inspiration from my Diné (Navajo) traditions and modern experiences," said Tapahe. "My work reflects the beauty and resilience of Native American culture. I strive to unite these two worlds in my concepts while transcending worldly uncertainties."

At the core of Tapahe's artistic vision is the traditional Navajo philosophy "to always walk in beauty," a principle that guides both his creative practice and personal journey. Through various visual mediums—photography, video, printmaking, installation, and mixed-media sculpture—Tapahe creates a delicate balance between past and present, using subtle contrasts, natural colors, and contours to offer unity, hope, and healing in a world often marked by disconnection.

In the early months of 2020, as the world retreated into isolation, the Diné (Navajo) artist found himself at a painful crossroads. His art shows were canceling one by one, and personal tragedy struck when he lost his aunt to COVID-19. "I felt like I was broken," he recalls. "I felt like there was nothing good going to happen."

Then came the dream that would change everything.

Tapahe describes a peaceful vision where he sat in a Yellowstone meadow watching grazing bison. The tranquility was interrupted by the distinct sound of jingles—and suddenly, beautiful jingle dress dancers appeared, performing alongside the bison. He awoke with a profound sense of healing and hope, immediately sharing his vision with his family.

"This dream is telling me that we need to take the jingle dress to the land, to heal the land," Tapahe told his wife and daughters. "And if we heal the land, we're going to heal the people." --click for full article

The exhibit opens July 5, 2025, with an artist’s talk at 5:30 p.m. It will continue during the renowned Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, the world’s largest Native American art market, August 16 and 17, and conclude on September 14, 2025. 

Save The Date: July 5 Artist Talk With Eugene Tapahe

 

Monroe Gallery of Photography is honored to announce an important exhibition featuring a photography series by artist Eugene Tapahe titled Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project. The exhibit opens July 5, 2025, with an artist’s talk at 5:30 p.m. Space is limited please arrive early.

The exhibit will continue during the renowned Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, the world’s largest Native American art market, August 16 and 17, and conclude on September 14, 2025. 

Eugene Tapahe is a contemporary artist inspired by his Diné (Navajo) traditions and modern experiences. He is originally from Window Rock, Arizona. Tapahe has loved photography since the first time he picked up a camera, and realized the special gift for telling stories through his art. He has a deep desire to continue photographing the lands his ancestors once walked. 

Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project originated from a dream Tapahe had during the COVID-19 pandemic, inspiring him to unite the land and people through the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress dance during uncertain times of illness and social differences. Since then, Tapahe has traveled thousands of miles documenting family members and friends dancing the healing honor dance in National Parks and Monuments, honoring the places where their ancestors once lived. Tapahe describes the images as “incredibly powerful and spiritual. Looking at them, I still can't believe I took these photographs. I believe this project is larger than myself, and I hope that when people view them, they feel the same way – that we are all blessed to be in the presence of such beauty.” 

The Jingle Dress Project has brought healing to Tapahe’s family, friends, and ancestors and garnered national and international recognition for its unifying effect on communities. The images have raised awareness of many Native American issues, such as land acknowledgment, women’s rights, and, most importantly, the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW).  

Gallery hours are 10 to 5 daily, and admission is free. For further information, please call or e-mail the Gallery.

View the exhibition here

Utah Artist Fellowship Program Announces Award to Photographer Eugene Tapahe

 Via The Salt Lake Tribune

(Eugene Tapahe) | The Jingle Dress Project: Eternal Legacy, 2023 (photograph)

The Utah Division of Arts & Museums has been supporting Utah artists since the agency’s founding in 1899. A large part of that support is the Utah Artist Fellowship, one of the highest state-sponsored awards a Utah artist can receive. The Utah Artist Fellowships are cash awards that recognize the careers of Utah artists demonstrating exceptional creativity in their fields. Fellows are chosen by out-of-state, nationally renowned arts professionals. Selections are based on evaluation of application narratives, as well as work samples from the past five years.

Through these fellowships, the agency seeks to support professional and committed artists reaching pivotal moments in their artistic practices, encouraging their career advancement and growth. Candidates are selected through an open application process. All eligible applications receive equal consideration through a two-round review process: a prescreen staff review, and a juror review. This year, five fellowships were awarded in the categories of Design Arts, Literary Arts, Performing Arts (Theatre), and Visual Arts. This year marked the inaugural year for a Literary Arts category.

2025’s Visual Arts Fellows are Eugene Tapahe, Christopher Lynn, Nancy Rivera, Ariel C. Wilson, and Xi Zhang. Visual Arts juror Lana Meador said: “The submissions reflected an incredibly rich artistic community, making the selection process no easy feat. The chosen artists displayed a clear vision and commitment to their practice in works that push the boundaries of their chosen media in new and exciting ways.”  Full article

Monroe Gallery is honored to present a very special exhibit by Eugune Tapahe - Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project. The exhibit opens on July 5, 2025, with an artist’s talk at 5:30 p.m. It will continue during the renowned Santa Fe Indian Market weekend, the world’s largest Native American art market, August 16 and 17, and conclude on September 14, 2025. Please contact the Gallery for more information

 

Images speak louder than words

© Steve Schapiro: I'm Still Alive”, Chicago, 2017

Via The Albuquerque Journal

By Kathaleen Roberts / Journal Staff Writer

Sunday, June 30, 2019 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — When visitors walk through Santa Fe’s Monroe Gallery, they often say great photojournalism has been relegated to the legacy of World War II and the civil rights movement.
“Living in History” aims to correct that misconception while the press is under continued attack.

Opening on Friday, July 5, the exhibition showcases images documenting subjects and events from the 21st century, including the Occupy Wall Street protests, the Black Lives Matter protests, the Syrian refugee crisis and the U.S.-Mexican border immigration and refugee crisis, among others

“This profession is alive and well, although it’s under tremendous duress,” Michelle Monroe, co-owner of the Santa Fe gallery, said.

The effect of the constellation of platforms available across the internet, social media and cellphones within the past 30 years has diluted and scattered both information and images that used to be concentrated in newspapers and Life magazine, she said.

“There’s material from the Arab Spring; there’s material about the surveillance state post-9/11,” she added.

The prone Chicago protester in Steve Schapiro’s “I’m Still Alive” photo wears a T-shirt encapsulating the Black Lives Matter protests roiling across the U.S. in reaction to the Ferguson, Mo., police shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.

“He’s making the statement that they have survived, that they are forces to be reckoned with,” Monroe said.

Nina Berman’s “Aftermath” shows 2016 Uranium Remembrance Day in Church Rock. Residents of Navajo communities were calling for an end to uranium mining. One of the largest nuclear catastrophes in U.S. history occurred in 1979 when the dam at the site broke, discharging more than 1,000 tons of solid radioactive mill waste and 93 million gallons of radioactive tailings solution into the Rio Puerco. Mining on Navajo land ended, but calls to revive it continue. Residents march to honor all those who died and were sickened by uranium mining and to demand a thorough cleanup and compensation.

Robert Wilson’s 2018 photo of religious leaders being arrested near San Diego for protesting President Donald Trump’s immigration policies sums up the issue in a single frame.

“They’re leaders from all faiths,” Monroe said. “He was traveling with the caravans through Mexico. In order to get these shots, (it’s) what people are compelled to do.”

Ashley Gilbertson’s 2015 photo of Syrian, Iraqi and Afghan refugees leaping from a raft near Scala on the island Lesvos, Greece, captures the desperation of the immigrants in the choppy Agean Sea. The exodus of refugees from Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe of more than 1 million people represents the largest movement of people since World War II.

Whitney Curtis caught police officers in riot gear confronting a man with raised hands during a Ferguson protest.

“For us, it looks like a Goya” painting, Monroe said. “But it really looks like the younger generation of civil rights photographers.”

The show features images surveying the past 20 years through the lenses of eight photojournalists.

“It’s a very difficult show,” Monroe said. “The last 19 years have been pretty rough.”

People “leave crying, but they love it.”


If you go
WHAT: “Living in History”
WHEN: Reception 5-7 p.m. Friday, July 5. Through Sept. 22.
WHERE: Monroe Gallery of Photography, 112 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe

HOW MUCH: Free at monroegallery.com, 505-992-0800

The Fourth of July

Steve Schapiro: Martin Luther King, Selma March, 1965

Martin Luther King Jr.: "You can get so busy in life that you forget holidays and other days, and it had slipped my mind altogether that today was the Fourth of July. And I said to him, "It is coincidental and quite significant, and I think when I get to Atlanta and go to my pulpit, I will try to preach a sermon in the spirit of the founding fathers of our nation and in the spirit of the Declaration of Independence." And so this morning I would like to use as a subject from which to preach: "The American Dream."


"The American Dream" Delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, on 4 July 1965

"It is found in those majestic words of the Declaration of Independence, words lifted to cosmic proportions: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." This is a dream. It’s a great dream.

The first saying we notice in this dream is an amazing universalism. It doesn’t say "some men," it says "all men." It doesn’t say "all white men," it says "all men," which includes black men. It does not say "all Gentiles," it says "all men," which includes Jews. It doesn’t say "all Protestants," it says "all men," which includes Catholics.  It doesn’t even say "all theists and believers," it says "all men," which includes humanists and agnostics"

The Long Road: From Selma To Ferguson

JULY 4 IN SANTA FE

© Steve Schapiro: Boy with Flag, Selma March, 1965

2014 Pancakes on the Plaza



It's almost automatic. When locals think Fourth of July in Santa Fe, Pancakes On The Plaza comes to mind first. From the deliciousness of the pancakes to the cool cars on display ... from the toe-tapping music to the unique art show, Pancakes On The Plaza has something for everyone. And as it brings the communities of Santa Fe and Northern New Mexico together to celebrate our nation's birthday, the proceeds generated from Pancakes on the Plaza make a big difference in the lives of people in need.

Get All Your Pancake Info here


Then, stroll over and preview the Steve Schapiro exhibition "Once Upon A Time in America". The gallery will be open Friday, July 4 from 9 to 3, and Saturday July 5 from 10 - 5. There will be a public reception welcoming the renowned photographer Steve Schapiro to Santa Fe and celebrating the official opening of his exhibit from 5 - 7 Saturday evening.