This piece is from a series of mixed media artworks, which I call Shijéí (meaning my heart in Navajo). It is a series that had been brewing under the surface for a long time. For many years, I felt a desire to share my story in some way, but I was uncertain how to approach it. At some point, I realized that it would make a strong statement to combine the materials, which are embedded in my family history. I use fabric, acrylic paint on canvas, or wool and branches lashed with twine (evocative of a Navajo loom) to tell my family’s story. By combining them, I am examining various historical threads. I consider how my body and personality are the accumulating effects of my ancestors. I reflect on the impact of colonization. Through my work I make the link between myself, my immediate family, my relatives and ancestors. I consider my place in the world and how the thread of my family's story is a part of a much grander tapestry that was created and is sustained by the forces of nature. —Carolyn L. Anderson

Carolyn L. Anderson, an enrolled member of the Navajo Nation and an alumna of the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, graduated with a bachelor’s degree in studio art in 2006. She has exhibited her paintings and mixed media artwork alongside other Indigenous artists in several exhibits and also has experience as a curator of Indigenous art. For 16 years, she worked for Birchbark Books in Minneapolis where she became a buyer of Native American art and jewelry. She was inspired by the beadwork that she would regularly purchase for resale at the store. In 2019, she decided to give beadworking a try and developed several of her own designs. Carolyn beads earrings with some of the tiniest glass seed beads available on the market today. Because it takes so long to finish a pair, she offers them on demand. You can preorder a pair in the beadwork section of this website.