Nicholas John Jones asks Eliza Naranjo Morse about Light from Love

Nicholas John Jones: When we have spoken about your artistic practice in the past, you don’t really make a separation between art practice and way of life. For example, working with others to support the sharing of the Tewa language; building your home, working with land in different capacities; caring for Always Becoming, an intergenerational evolving sculpture project started by your mother, Nora Naranjo Morse, are all aspects of your practice. I know that drawing, sculpture and poetry are important to how you work – or perhaps life would be more accurate.

Eliza Naranjo Morse: The creation of things such as poetry, sculpture and drawing feel necessary to my life as forms of record keeping, processing and spiritual gathering. I consider them to be holistic acts that form relationships with place, history and community; they are connected to all things, so encompassing that there is a desire to process my experiences and take note of aspects of it. These recordings are made with a sense of relationship and possibility embedded into their creation.

NJJ: Light from Love consists of a drawing and poem that can be printed as front and reverse of a card. The drawing shows many animals – which seem to be carrying colourful baggage – travelling across a cosmic landscape with a swirling centre. The poem speaks of forgotten paths and continuing journeys, of possibility and the “breath beyond their own” being what feeds and guides. I see this as an optimistic lament, if there can be such a thing; sorrowful for what has been lost, yet hopeful that human awareness and care can lead to a new path. How do you feel about this, perhaps quite literal interpretation?

ENM: The work is meant to be a literal expression and I value that there will also be interpretations or observations about it that I haven’t considered because I am unable to understand or uncover them right now.  

My relationship with the illustration gathers from many different sources – that I understand so far.  

The day this work began I was at Ucross artist residency in Wyoming [USA]. Expansive landscape surrounds the institution that supports expansive thought. I was recalling the sentiments and perspectives shared by my fellow residents during the PRAKSIS month long residency, In time we too will become Ancestors, five years prior. My memory of the experience was as a steady pilgrimage of conversation, activity and experience towards what I felt was an affirmation that love is a necessary and powerful navigational tool.  

I truly value such gatherings, where people share, and relationship is developed organically as Sacred—I make a decided effort to speak unapologetically of ‘Spirit’ and ‘Sacredness’ as I think in many societies people are hardened and wary of these words. I observe that they can often be guarded to a point of suffocation or written off as silly! I use these words with focused intent and respectful acknowledgment of their existence. This illustration celebrates the efforts of carrying and seeking the Sacred.

During the creation of this drawing, Raphael Warnock gave his first Senate floor speech. It was a stunning expression of strength, love and sacredness. I thought of wrapping his words in beauty, protection and support. I thought of them having a home on the back of a strong spirit. During another moment of this drawing’s creation, I was fortunate to hear and share with our elder, Diane Reyna, a brilliant powerhouse and champion of love from Taos Pueblo where I live. Because art can take us anywhere, I was compelled to consider a space as lovely as I could where the spirit of these efforts could gather. Their strength radiating into a universe of possibility and connectivity.

In this mindset, many people and their efforts came to heart as lines and colours and characters appeared.  

NJJ: The printable format of this work is designed to be a gift; it should be shared. What hopes do you have for Light from Love as we send it out into the world?

ENM: I hope that people might recognise themselves as part of the drawing, among others;  that they might reflect on what they are carrying towards a common spiritual centre, and what meaning and possibilities the journey holds. I hope people can feel a sense of appreciation for the small and large efforts being made by others. I hope that children will see the illustration and wish to be part of such an environment; to be such an animal.  

I hope that such reflections also encourage consideration of where in our lives this isn’t happening, for whom, and for what reasons, this journey is being obstructed or denied. 

NJJ: I’m interested to hear more about your thoughts on caring for and passing down knowledge. Are there examples of knowledge that have been passed down to you through generations that you hope to pass on in turn?  

ENM: I hope openly and all-inclusively to pass on the knowledge that we are in relationship with all living things. I hope to pass on that art and spirit can exist in all relationships, and that these relationships are birthrights.  

I am the fortunate recipient of a Pueblo worldview that came from relationships my elders had with knowledge that was passed to them, and that they carried and combined into their futures. Being able to compare this with standard Western tools has been a form of strength.

I spend time and energy bringing indigenous knowledge systems forward because they are important for both personal and community strength, and also as a form of solidarity and support for others doing the same! The passing on of knowledge such as Indigenous language or cultural way is important because they provide strength to the carriers; especially in a world that has become, and continues to become, more homogenous. Globally, these unique knowledge systems are born from varied environments, collective thoughts and histories over the world. Worldviews based on systems of time and relationships between the natural world and each other are important to keep perspectives as open and rooted as possible. To carry versions of them forward means the people who come after us can continue to know there are many ways, relationships and systems of being.

NJJ: I know that after studying drawing in New York, you deliberately stepped away from the gallery system, instead choosing to prioritise working alongside your more immediate community. When asked to do things for platforms such as PRAKSIS Presents, do you feel any conflicts or particular responsibilities?

ENM: I have been very fortunate to witness and participate in the efforts of communities, institutions and platforms that navigate from curiosity with missions and intentions that support relationships and becoming!

Cultural resources and nuances sometimes need to recover, become fortified and work their best within their own seed bed. This inspires me to feel curious about methods of creative record keeping that speak independently, inclusively and authentically. I see many art platforms and institutions as champions to the development of possibility and relationship where navigating respectfully becomes an active collaborator! I am hopeful that these kinds of platforms and institutions become guides to really powerful, but dysfunctional institutions that operate from more limited and stagnant toolkits, where money becomes the most active  collaborator. Here, I’m not pointing out galleries, but institutions that are supposed to take care of people.