Artist Returns to Downtown Gallup to Complete A New Mural Project

By Kara Q. Smith, Executive Director Gallup MainStreet Arts & Cultural District

Earlier this year, Gallup MainStreet Arts & Cultural District was the recipient of a grant from the New Mexico Resiliency Alliance (NMRA), in partnership with New Mexico MainStreet and the McCune Charitable Foundation, in support of a project being developed with gallupARTS to bring art to one block of alleyway in Downtown Gallup. The block is located between First and Second Streets and Coal and Aztec streets. After a selection committee reviewed proposals, Albuquerque-based artist Marina Eskeets was chosen to complete a new mural on the back of the building owned by Northwest New Mexico Council of Governments.

Her piece, titled “Óódááł (Everyone Moving Forward),” will present a colorful depiction of two young Diné (Navajo) girls walking behind a flock of sheep. They blow bubbles with their gum and wave their hands in the air to keep the heard moving. They walk past a twisted cedar tree with geometric patterns framing them. In the far background are four wind turbines, mimicking a corn field. Blue gramma grass grows at their feet. Having grown up in Gallup, this narrative is central to Eskeet’s personal story, but also resonates widely with many folks in the area.

As part of her project, she is working with art students at Miyamura High School. Instructor Tine Hayes says of the collaboration: “Marina is a former student of mine, who graduated from MHS in its second year of existence. She got a full ride art scholarship to SFUAD and has blazed a trial, from Gallup to art school, that many other students have followed. This project has a similar value, she is a role model for my students and her strength and ability give quality to her voice and validation to their perspectives. My students get to see Marina, a successful artist from the same area and culture as them, making a strong public artistic statement about what it means to be a contemporary Native person. This communicates to them that their voices matter, also.”

Eskeets is also working on a community storytelling component to the piece, inviting others to share their own stories. The artist answered a few questions while she was in the middle of painting the work:

What is different about adapting a work of art for the public as a mural versus for a gallery or in your studio? Are there any challenges that this venue presents?

Creating this mural is very different than a showing in a gallery or making work in my studio. The community gets to see the slow progression and they provide continuous feedback. Working in the studio is super isolated, and I only get limited feedback. It is definitely a challenge to be out in the elements, but it is worth it to have met all the people I have and to create this whole experience with my family and my boyfriend, which creates even more meaning in the piece.

What excites you about producing a work in Downtown Gallup?

To be part of a project that is more than just the mural is unreal. So far all the reactions toward the mural have been positive, people giggle when I show them my sketch for the mural, or they tell me some memories of their sheep herding days, and to me, that is the most exciting: knowing my work is capturing the interests of the local Indigenous and Latino community. The process of working with my family, alongside the construction crew, delivery trucks for Sammy C’s, garbage trucks, and the cooks from Sammy C’s, is fun; we have to make room for each other in the narrow alley, and it feels like a collective effort to improve the downtown area.

You are also engaging in a storytelling initiative, can you talk a bit about that and share a bit of your own story behind the mural?

I am inviting the community to share their sheep herding stories as a sound piece to accompany the mural. The mural itself is portraying the Indigenous community in a contemporary way and the stories give the voice back to the community through their memories of an ancestral practice. I, myself, grew up next to my naali’s (paternal grandparents) and herded their sheep with my older sister, Anna, and older brother, Johnny. My Naali man would pull out a heavy bean sack and set it on the bed at the end of the week and give us each 25 cents for going after the sheep. When my parents would go check the mail, my older sister and I would go next door to purchase bubble gum with the money he gave us, and it was something I enjoyed a lot. A few years later, my grandparents sold all their sheep and everything changed. I am grateful to have had these experiences with my siblings and grandparents, and this mural is dedicated to the grandparents who taught us to walk on the land.

Stop by to see Eskeet’s work in progress through December! For information on additional programs or the project in general, contact Gallup MainStreet Arts & Cultural District at 505-879-0366 or director@gallupmainstreet.org.