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Phil Douglis | all galleries >> Galleries >> Gallery Thirty Nine: Juxtaposition – compare and contrast for meaning > Kachina, Cameron Trading Post, Cameron, Arizona, 2009
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14-NOV-2009

Kachina, Cameron Trading Post, Cameron, Arizona, 2009

We were having dinner in the trading post dining room, built in 1916. I noticed a large Kachina looking down on us as we ate. Although the Kachina probably represents a Hopi spirit, it seems right at home in a dining room owned and operated by the neighboring and much larger Navajo tribe. From my low angle, I was able to juxtapose it against the dining room ceiling, creating still another incongruous comparison. The ceiling is made of pressed tin, symbolizing 19th and early 20th century American industrialization – the very force that eventually helped dilute and destroy so much of Native American culture. This tin ceiling has been beautifully restored, yet to those who understand the history of decorative interior design, it might be seen as a bittersweet kind of beauty.

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Phil Douglis28-Nov-2009 02:47
Thanks,Rose, for pointing out the cultural contrasts here -- in the end, the Native American was forced to embrace, and in this particular case, indeed profit by, the Euro-American lifestyle.
sunlightpix28-Nov-2009 01:21
I like the contrast of textures; wood, leather, feathers, and stone from the Native American culture; and metallic and patterned uniformity from the European culture.
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