Image

Print of an animal herd with characteristic abstract geometric motifs against a washy, swirling, pink-blue background. A yellow figure with blue skeletal detailing stands with them in the bottom right.

Melanie Yazzie

Twins - Are Not Really Ever the Same

Description

Maker

Melanie Yazzie (Diné (Navajo), b. 1966)

Title

Twins - Are Not Really Ever the Same

Year

1997

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

monotype, stencil (tool), viscosity

Supports

Dimensions

Sheet: 57.2 x 76.5 cm (22 1/2 x 30 1/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

LR:silver ink:(?) 197 LL:silver ink:"TWINS - ARE NOT REALLY EVER THE SAME"

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Nancy Friese

Object Number

1998.62.1

Type

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Journal

Manual / Issue 18: Nature

 RISD Museum’s Manual 18 Celebrates Nature

In our [Chamoru] culture, inafa’maolek is our most important value. It roughly translates as “to make good for each other.” Inafa’maolek teaches us that all things are connected and related, including people, environments, and all species. Because all things are interwoven, we must always act with guinaiya and respetu, love and respect.  

–Craig Santos Perez, introduction

Manual 18 explores human interactions with the natural world, from frank awe and deep appreciation of the immediate moment to eternal questions and ancient unfinished business. This issue of Manual complements the exhibition Being and Believing in the Natural World, co-curated by Gina Borromeo, Wai Yee Chiong, and Sháńdíín Brown, on view at the RISD Museum now through May 7, 2023.

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Being and Believing in the Natural World
Perspectives from the Ancient Mediterranean, Asia, and Indigenous North America
Oct 22, 2022 – Jun 04, 2023

Label copy

Following the Diné dictum “walk in beauty,” Melanie Yazzie draws inspiration from personal experiences. The monotype at right is about “growing up on the Navajo Nation. Being with our sheep herd and sheepdogs on the land has always brought such good feelings to me. . . . I spent much time listening to the fly flying by, the wind, the sheep grazing. All teaching me to absorb that quiet moment.” Silent Symbols, she says, is about “a dream I had about traveling to New Zealand. I dreamt that a giant sea turtle saved me from an airplane crash. it took me to the surface where a Native person lifted me to land.”

—SB

Painterly Prints
Mar 03, 2000 – May 28, 2000

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This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Melanie Yazzie (Diné (Navajo), b. 1966)
Twins - Are Not Really Ever the Same, 1997
Monotype
Sheet: 57.2 x 76.5 cm (22 1/2 x 30 1/8 inches)
Gift of Nancy Friese 1998.62.1

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