Shawn Evans and Garron Yepa to lecture for UNM Libraries
Reversing the Negative: Focusing the Narrative of the Carlos Vierra Scrapbooks
Shawn and Garron will give the final Spring 2021 People & Places lecture for the UNM Libraries on Thursday May 6, 2021 at 5:30pm Mountain Time. The talk will examine the history and current context of this fascinating archival resource in the UNM Center for Southwest Research. The scrapbooks contain now historical photographs of the Pueblos that were taken by Santa Fe painter, Carlos Vierra, for use in formulating the Santa Fe Style. These images fueled the remaking of Santa Fe and the romanticism of the Southwest that continues to draw new residents and visitors from across the globe. Seen as cultural preservation by many, the aesthetic is also recognized as cultural appropriation that contributes to gentrification and cultural erasure. A number of the Pueblo tribes are now reappropriating these scrapbooks as they plan revitalization efforts of their villages and self-determine their own preservation approaches. The Pueblos demonstrate that preservation takes many forms and that study of historic images need not result in a restoration focused on the past. How might these images and similar archival resources prove useful to Santa Fe as it undergoes a self-examination of its heritage, monuments, and identity?
Learn more about the talk here. To attend, please email Tomas Jaehn at tjaehn@unm.edu by Tuesday May 4th to receive a Zoom link.