Photographing Helen Greyeyes

June 22, 2020

Yesterday I drove to Helen Greyeyes’ house specifically to photograph her. One week prior I visited with her, since it had been several months since my previous visit. I also wanted to make the arrangements for yesterday’s photo shoot. My goal was to photograph her weaving on her traditional loom, and then to make a formal portrait of her.

When I arrived Helen emerged from a small room off of the dining room. I was stopped dead in my tracks. She was adorned in her finest jewelry - all made of silver and turquoise. This, in Navajo tradition, is a sign of status. Helen’s silver hair was pulled back tight, and fashioned into a short ponytail that was wrapped in carefully in cord. The silver hair, and the silver and turquoise jewelry, all set against her darkened skin, and her finely chiseled features, was something of truly authentic beauty. Her age, of 83, could not be seen. She was timeless.

It was at that moment that I decided to make her portrait first, and then the weaving.

But before any of that could take place, we sat down to eat. In honor of my visit, Helen’s sister, Alice, made Navajo Tacos so that we could share a meal together - the “Breaking of Bread”, as it were. This was a great honor.

It took some time for me to set up a studio in Helen’s ‘other’ house - a mobile home that sits beside her daily house. Even though it is larger, Helen continues to live in the much smaller house. Living in the larger space, for just one person, would be greedy, in a sense - taking more than she needed. It is part of her traditional Navajo ways.

As I made the portrait, and the photographs of her weaving, I was treated to the ongoing dialog between Helen, her sister, Alice, and her daughter, Rena. The language has such a beautiful sound to it. One can hear its antiquity - as it has continued to flow through time.

And again, through both the portrait session, as well as the photographing of the weaving, there was this unspoken duality: the antiquity, and traditions of her attire, of her language, and of the way that she sat on the floor, in front of her loom, weaving - juxtaposed against the photographic lights, the cameras, and even the interior surroundings of her mobile home. And I was a part of it… For the better part of four hours, I was granted a glimpse of something that has been, for millennia.

Members of my Patreon site can see “Behind The Scenes” video from this shoot! Go to: https://www.patreon.com/davidrobertfarmerie