Light of the Hopi

Light of the Hopi is a collaboration with members of the Hopi tribe. The Hopi live in some of the longest continually inhabited villages in the US, on three mesas in the Arizona high desert. Hopi culture is celebrated worldwide for its rich, vital traditions, arts, and spiritual practices. Historically the tribe has rarely been photographed.

Working closely with Hopi partners, our intention is to create a body of work that will serve as an authentic and meaningful cultural resource, both to Hopi, and to people outside their culture; and to help financially support a range of work within the tribe, including cultural preservation, healthcare, farming, and the arts.

Hopi, like other indigenous sovereign nations, have endured centuries of systemic racism and economic exploitation, and face ongoing threats to their lands and way of life. Roughly 70% of the population lives below the poverty line. They face uranium mines and oil drilling in their most sacred ancestral lands (including the Grand Canyon and Chaco Canyon) and arsenic contamination in their water. The Hopi and many native tribes are amongst the communities hardest hit by Covid-19.

We are offering fine art photographs for sale, with 50% of proceeds going to the cultural groups, individuals, or villages photographed. We are also producing a book that will share the photographs alongside text written or narrated by Hopi, offering Hopi perspectives on the personal, cultural, environmental, and spiritual themes explored by the work.

To see some of the photographs we've made so far, please visit our gallery. Feel free to email me at erika@erikarand.com. Thank you for reading!

Warmly,

Erika