“Bilá Ashdlá’ (Five Fingered People),” a two-series solo art exhibition by local contemporary artist Jeff Slim, will open at the Shade Gallery in MonOrchid on Friday.
Over the past seven years, Slim has used his art to reflect his Diné, or Navajo, heritage and his life growing up on the reservation. He said that “Five Fingered People” is a depiction of a series he has been developing over the past three years in representation of Navajo life, history and cultural ties.
He uses Native creation stories, coming of age, adaptation to modern life, the history of colonialism, societal taboos and life on the reservation to represent modern gender roles and gender identification.
“I guess I just want to depict things that aren’t really being talked about,” Slim said.
The title of the exhibition was inspired by a question that he asked his grandmother.
“I asked, ‘What is everybody on the planet?’ and she explained to me that it’s like Bilá Ashdlá’, which is ‘five-fingered people,’” he said.
Slim found inspiration for the two series in his exhibition, “Pollen Boy” and “Beyond the Reed,” in his close friend and local musician Ryan Dennison as well as his grandparents.
Dennison, a New Mexico native and musician since 2006, will complement the opening reception, on Friday from 6-10 p.m. at the Shade Gallery, with live music.
Slim said Dennison’s work covers a wide range of experimental music with a creative delivery – performing with a scarf over his head and developing an eclectic character of his own.
“He allowed me to paint him as this character or this individual that he dressed up as, and it has kind of been an ongoing series, and that’s the ‘Pollen Boy’ series,” Slim said.
Dennison has performed at many of Slim’s exhibition openings, and the values behind their shared Navajo culture have helped them create mutual support for each other’s work while telling stories of their heritage within Arizona.
“We’re not out there to get famous. We’re out there to create something that has meaning,” Dennison said. “We want to use this current platform to talk about important issues on our reservation that will help the process of healing.”
“Beyond the Reed” features photographs of Slim’s grandparents throughout adolescence and beyond in the context of Navajo heritage from the 1950s.
“My grandmother went through the boarding school system, so I have been depicting her,” Slim said. “This was during the ’50s when they were still shipping Navajo and Native American children away.”
Being a part of the Navajo tribe has played a major role in the stories behind Slim’s artwork as he has remained conscientious of his elders’ opinions of his work while also staying true to the message that his series portray.
“I didn’t grow up traditionally, but I do have my father that did,” Slim said. “A lot of it is based on stories that I heard from my father’s side and stories that I even read myself and have done personal research on of my own culture.”
Slim uses a combination of acrylic and spray paint, juxtaposing his personal music taste with his culture and background.
“Right now I am working on one that is based on a David Bowie cover, ‘Diamond Dogs’, and instead of painting David Bowie half-human half-dog, I painted myself half-human, half-coyote,” Slim said. “I kind of switched it around and tied it into things that are tied to my culture.”
Nicole Royse, curator of Shade Projects within MonOrchid, has watched Slim’s work develop since seeing some of the preliminary pieces of his “Pollen Boy” series in a street art show last year.
Royse said that Slim has a particular style and technique and that it is evident that he takes a lot of pride in his culture and in his work.
“Native American culture is vital, and that’s who he is,” Royse said. “He brings people to life in such a unique way. He continues to grow, and his style continues to evolve.”
The closing reception for “Five Fingered People” will be held on Third Friday, May 20, from 6-9 p.m. Slim’s exhibition will be on display in the Shade Gallery until May 29.
Contact the reporter at brianna.bradley@asu.edu.
