Lyncia Begay ( Bį́į́hbitoo’nii + Naakai Diné’é + Táchii’nii + Tsé Deeshgiizhnii

Bio:  Yá’át’ééh and hello, my name is Lyncia.  I live near  Dook’o’oosłííd, a mountain sacred to countless tribes across the southwest regions of the U.S.. The area in which I live,  provides histories,  languages, and paradigms that largely inform much of my work and subject matter. I am a self-taught artist with an MFA in Creative Writing (non-fiction). As an artist and illustrator (and water-clan being) the use of traditional watercolors has been my go-to when it comes to visual media (although I do dabble in experimenting with gouache paints). 

Artist statement: Saanii in a modern context is what my art strives to communicate. Saanii, or Diné womenfolk in the dominant discourse are often written out of the picture, their own narratives, their inherent leadership,  and the land itself. Yet Diné women continue to create, cultivate, and nourish the environment they are in, the people they are around, and the life ways that they forge alongside Dookʼooʼosłííd. As the stars breathe what’s to come, we may find ourselves consoled only by our shadow. At these times, any person can come to realize they’ve always had a North Star, an eternal fire that represents a patterning of parents, grandparents, relatives, ancestors, and the continuity of that which we carry in our own conduct to see life as sacred. Saaniis are just a little extra in this regard. In the way they cook their soup; in the way they manage their land; in the way they neglect greed in favor of life; in the way their prayers have reached us past genocide into us wearing their clothes and realizing what’s next.