Dahodiyinii - Sacred Places with Dakota Mace
Dahodiyinii - Sacred Places with Dakota Mace
Join us via Zoom Wednesday, August 6th, at 7 pm EDT
Through visual language steeped in symbolism and resonance, Dakota Mace creates intimate spaces in which the past is not merely recalled but felt—transforming the act of seeing into a shared experience of collective remembrance. DAHODIYINII—SACRED PLACES, Mace’s first solo exhibition in New Mexico, is a poetic meditation on the intricate bonds between people, Land, and memory.
DAHODIYINII—SACRED PLACES references one of the most appalling episodes in American history: when the US Army expelled the Diné people from their ancestral homeland, Dinétah, as an act of ethnic cleansing. In what came to be known as the Long Walk, close to 10,000 people were forcibly marched up to 400 miles to the Bosque Redondo in New Mexico, where they were held against their will from 1864 to 1868. Mace maps and chronicles this displacement with care, thoughtfully establishing Land as an active witness, collaborator, document, and material. Mace underscores the profound significance of place, rooted in Ałk’idáá—a Diné concept of balance and generational continuity that literally translates to “experiences of events stacked up through time.”
The exhibition unfolds across five galleries in three interwoven threads—Stars, Memory, and Land—each offering a unique lens into Diné cosmology. Stars immerses us in a constellation of ancestors, reflecting an understanding of the universe as a vast and interconnected expanse. Memory unearths deep histories through a living archive. Land is the anchor, bridging the celestial and terrestrial planes.
DAHODIYINII—SACRED PLACES features recurring shades of black, cochineal, and indigo. Site-specific earthen installations, weavings, beadwork, hides, over 1,500 naturally toned cyanotypes, and archival photography are included. Immersive recordings of Diné elders and their children sharing stories position the body as a vessel to carry the weight of history. For many, memories are embedded within the earth, forming an enduring connection between people and place. Mace’s practice is tethered to cycles of creation, dissolution, and renewal, reflecting on the ephemerality of material and the endurance of oral traditions through breath, voice, song, and narrative.
Together we will explore how practice and installation can honor the sacred.
Dakota Mace (Diné) is an interdisciplinary artist who focuses on translating the language of Diné history and beliefs. Mace received her MA and MFA degrees in Photography and Textile Design at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her BFA in Photography from the Institute of American Indian Arts. As a Diné (Navajo) artist, her work draws from the history of her Diné heritage, exploring the themes of family lineage, community, and identity. In addition, her work pushes the viewer's understanding of Diné culture through alternative photography techniques, weaving, beadwork, and papermaking.
She has also worked with numerous institutions and programs to develop dialogue on cultural appropriation and the importance of Indigenous design work. She is an MFA in Studio Arts Faculty member at the Institute of American Indian Arts and the photographer for the Helen Louise Allen Textile Center and the Center of Design and Material Culture.
Her work is in the collections of the Library of Congress, Forge Project Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, Everson Museum of Art, Amon Carter Museum, National Gallery of Art, Museum of Contemporary Photography among other public collections.
She is represented by Bruce Silverstein Gallery in New York City.
