Art Heals: The Jingle Dress Project
By Eugene Tapahe
Photography: Eugene Tapahe
During COVID-19, I had a dream. I was in a grass field in Yellowstone National Park watching bison graze. And then, I heard the sound of jingles. One by one, jingle dress dancers appeared. They seemed to be dancing with the bison. It was peaceful — I could feel myself healing.
When I awoke, I felt this was more than a dream. As I retold the dream to my family, they could feel it, too. We knew this dream had to come true.
Our project’s goal is to take the healing power of the Ojibwe jingle dress to the land, travel, dance and capture images to document the spiritual places our ancestors once walked, to give hope and heal the world through art, dance and culture.
Eugene Tapahe, in his first years of life on the Navajo Nation, lived off the land under his grandmother’s training, practicing the traditional ways of their Diné ancestors. He learned the importance of respecting, preserving and protecting that which is sacred, the land, water and nature. Tapahe unites his love for nature and culture with his professional education in graphic design, journalism and fine art landscape and portrait photography to create beautiful images, inspired by a deep desire to photograph the lands his ancestors walked. Tapahe resides in Provo and, with his wife, Sharon, has two daughters, Erin and Dion.