Coyote Too

“Having a vision [cultural perspective] is a powereful thing.  Creating art is imitating the gods. In that respect, everything you do has to be done in great reverence. You don’t do it casually. It’s not to be flagrantly marketed. I sometimes have a ceremony to acknowledge that vision. It’s like having your resume checked by the gods.

"For me, beauty is anything that stirs the soul, the emotion, whether it be grief, anger, joy, or melancholia.  In Navajo, we say iina’ya’ hool zhho’. It means ‘an easing of the vision.’  Anything you see, your eyes ease into that, and your mind arranges it. We say nizhonigoo bil iina, the beauty that you live with, the beauty that you live by, the beauty upon which you base your life.

Shonto Begay (Navajo)