Forbidden Love [two weaving set]
Sierra Teller Ornelas, Diné / American, born 1981
Diné (Navajo)
Southwest
January-July 2009
Wool, vegetable dye
Overall: 15 × 11 1/8 in. (38.1 × 28.3 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Purchased through the Alvin and Mary Bert Gutman '40 Acquisition Fund
© Sierra Teller Ornelas
2009.54
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
21st century
Object Name
Textile
Research Area
Native American
Native American: Southwest
On view
Label
As a sixth-generation Navajo rug weaver, Ornelas explores new forms by merging traditional weaving techniques and contemporary imagery. Forbidden Love (Two Weaving Set) depicts two Pac-Man ghosts longing for each other while separated by the woven infrastructure of the video game. While the artist constructed this scene to illustrate her adolescent experiences with romance and trepidations about interracial dating, the sentiment of “forbidden love” is particularly significant within queer culture both past and present. Ornelas’s weaving set serves as a testament to the distinctly human experience of falling in love, and the cultural apprehensions that often come with loving another.
From the 2023 exhibition Love as Ceremony: Legacies of Two-Spirit Liberation, A Space for Dialogue 114, curated by Moonoka Begay '23, Conroy Intern
Course History
ANTH 05, Introduction to Archaeology, Nathaniel Kitchel, Summer 2019
NAS 30.19, Indigistory, Gordon Henry, Fall 2019
ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022
ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022
Exhibition History
A Space for Dialogue 114, Love as Ceremony: Legacies of Two-Spirit Liberation, Moonoka Begay, '23, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, 19 August - 14 October 2023.
A Space for Dialogue 79, Traditional Connections / Contemporary Practice, Nicole Gilbert, MALS 2015, Hood Exhibition Coordinator, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 26, 2013 - January 19. 2014.
Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 8, 2011-March 12, 2012.
Publication History
George P. Horse Capture, Sr., Joe D. Horse Capture, Joseph M. Sanchez, et al., Native American Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, Hanover: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2011, ill. on p. 73 and p. 156, no. 82.
Nicole Gilbert, A Space for Dialogue 79, Traditional Connections / Contemporary Practice, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2013, ill. p. 3.
Provenance
The artist, 2009 Santa Fe Indian Market, Santa Fe, New Mexico; sold to present collection, August 2009.
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