Good for you, Jean-Paul and Rebecca Valette, for preserving this excellent collection of Navajo works. I would have called them “rugs”, but some clearly are not. Pay attention to the two that were made by students, longing for home, while forced to attend “boarding school”.
Don’t get me started on these “schools”. The most positive view I can manage is that they were well-intentioned. Unfortunately “improvement” meant eradicating native languages and cultures.
What happened to the children happened here also, such was the mind set at the time. Imagine losing your children in this way, can’t imagine what it was like for the parents.
Thanks so much for sharing, Steve. Such beautiful art work. Yes, the reality of the boarding schools there and residential schools here in Canada is a sad reminder of the past.