November Marks National Native American Heritage Month

Using natural pigments made from Southwest plants, the Navajo Shaman creates the holy symbols and figures which are used in healing ceremonies.

Much wisdom can be garnered by learning how other people view the world. In the twenty years I spent as an adjunct professor, I had the great privilege to teach Non-western art, providing me with the opportunity to deeply explore the aesthetics, beliefs, and world outlook of many cultures.

In tribute to Native American Heritage Month, I’d like to share the Navajo concept of hozho, which made an impact on me when I first learned about it, and contributed to my expanding concept of life and art.

The prefix ho means world, universe or all. Zho means beauty, perfection and harmony. This ideal coexists with hochxo, ugliness, evil and disorder. When the world, which was created in beauty becomes unstable and chaotic, the Navajo gather together in song to perform rituals and make art, specifically sand paintings, to restore beauty and harmony to the world, or health and wholeness to an individual who is ill. The compositions reflect the Navajo ideals of controlled energy and movement, like the planets orbiting the sun in harmony and unison in our solar system.

Interestingly, among the Navajo almost everyone is considered an artist, and those who are without hozho are marginalized. Contrary to this notion, a relatively small number of people are considered gifted as artists in Western culture, and those who are find themselves on the periphery of society.

The Navajo find beauty within themselves. Shaa hozho means beauty radiates from me. Life is art…art is life.

Source: O'Riley, Michael Kampen. Art Beyond the West. 3rd ed. Pearson, 2014, pp. 335-336.