Special Events

Take a Tour of the American Southwest with Navajo Photographer LeRoy DeJolie

Take a Tour of the American Southwest with Navajo Photographer LeRoy DeJolie
WHEN: Thursday, Nov. 16, 2006
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
WHERE: Truckee Meadows Community College Dandini Campus, 7000 Dandini Blvd. Sierra Building, room 108
COST: Free and open to the public

On Thursday, Nov. 16, award-winning photographer LeRoy DeJolie is offering the audience an insider's view from his lens of the tribal landscape, dancing and traditions of Native Americans in the desert Southwest.

"Everywhere you look in 'NavajoLand,' nature presents itself in artistic ways. Lines, patterns, textures, shapes and form appear in both the intimate and grand landscape around us," DeJolie said. "These are the core examples of the compelling and graphic elements I try to employ in all my images I produce from my homeland here in the northern reaches of Arizona on the Navajo Indian Reservation."

He grew up surrounded by the immense open sky and windswept plains of the Navajo Reservation. DeJolie watched the sun as it created the drama of light and shadow upon the landscape of red rock canyons, sage-covered rangeland, mirror-top lakes and rich skies. He was able to absorb the solitude and spiritual quality of his surroundings and share the essence of his heritage while creating stunning photographs.

DeJolie resides near Page, Arizona in a small Native American community where he said he is able to live close to the people and land that he loves. "The Navajo Heritage is vanishing from the lives and memories of many of our people today. These are the memories, traditions and images that I am compelled to capture and preserve for my children, for my people and the world for generations to come."

It's not a digital camera DeJolie's uses to capture the majestic beauty of his homeland--his 4x5 Wista Wood Field and his 8x10 Deardorf are enough to evoke an appreciation from deep within the viewer.

His award-winning nature and landscape work has been widely exhibited, published and collected for the past twenty years. DeJolie is an instructor with the Friends of Arizona Highways Photography Workshops and NavajoLand Images Photography Workshops and was recently featured in a PBS broadcast special, "Images of Arizona." Publications include Arizona Highways magazine, Native Peoples magazine, New Mexico magazine, the Washington Post, the San Francisco Examiner, Reader's Digest, American Park Network and Time-Life Books. DeJolie provided the official photography and promotional images for the Navajo Nation's, Salt Lake City 2002 Cultural Olympiad exhibition. Exhibitions include the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland, The Heard Museum Indian Fair & Market, Indian Artist of America Show and Pueblo Grande Indian Market.

After the public event DeJolie will be demonstrating photographic techniques and sharing his experiences with children from the Pyramid Indian Reservation. DeJolie said, "I want to give Native American children living in the land of the Navajo a chance at a better tomorrow; to help them interpret their world through art; to inspire them to rise above their circumstances and to never give up on their dreams."