Desert Tango

These images are the first in a series of posts about a recent trip I made to Tuba City, Ariz. on the Navajo Reservation to photograph people affected by the Bennett Freeze. The Bennett Freeze is a 1.6 million acre tract of land known that, for over 40 years, has been frozen from development due to land dispute claims between the Navajo and Hopi. Because of it’s disputed nature, no federal dollars could go into improving and developing the land, leaving many with no access to running water and electricity. The freeze was officially lifted in May of this year by Congress, but I wanted to take a look and see what, if any, effect this may have had to people living on Bennett Freeze land.

This particular part of the series focuses on the family of Irene George with emphasis on her daughter Denise Almeida. About three years ago Denise’s mobile home burned to the ground, leaving her family of 9 with nowhere to live. They ended up in a small travel trailer on her mothers property on the outskirts of Tuba City, sleeping eight people in the smallest of spaces with nothing but a small electric heater to keep them warm. For a variety of reasons, Almeida has not been able to receive help.

After spending three days shooting in Tuba City, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation, I’ve spent the past two days editing images from the three separate stories I worked on while there. I think I’ve got an edit down, which will run as a centerpiece and photo page in this Saturday’s edition of the Gallup Independent. Meanwhile, I wanted to share this fun photo from one of those stories. It doesn’t quite fit in with other images in the edit, but I love the color and simplicity.

In a prelude to a project that I worked on this past weekend, I wanted to post some images from a trip I made in May of this year to Black Falls, Arizona on the Navajo Nation Indian Reservation.

The residents of Black Falls, which lies just east of Wupatki National Monument, live in a harsh land with very little water. What little water there is, is contaminated with uranium and other heavy metals. Additionally, a number of the residents used to live in the area that is a now Wupatki. They were forced off of the their land to the other side of the little Colorado River, a barren wasteland that was once the site of many a mine operated by the U.S. government. To many traditional Navajo, being forced from the land where you were born is like a death sentence. Their land is their religion and their sustenance.

One other thing affected the residents of Black Falls; it was the southern portion of a 1.6 million acre tract of land known as the Bennett Freeze. For over 40 years this land was frozen from development due to land dispute claims between the Navajo and Hopi. Because of it’s disputed nature, no federal dollars could go into improving and developing the land, leaving many with no access to running water and electricity.

The freeze was officially lifted in May of this year by Congress, but I wanted to take a look and see what, if any, effect this may have had to people living on Bennett Freeze land. This past weekend I made a trip to the heart of the Bennett Freeze, Tuba City, Arizona to begin shooting for the project. This will be the first of many trips that I hope will be subject of project called The Forgotten People. This past trip will be the subject of future posts, but for now I wanted to show images that initially spurred this idea.