I had the great privilege of travelling to the Navajo reservation near Chinle in Arizona in 2015. Much of this was inspired by the work of anthropologist Maureen Schwartz whose focus of research has been looking at medical and religious forms of identity. With a desire to use my anthropological background, the aim was to explore the intersection of traditional Navajo healing and western medicine. The project emerged from a desire to understand how these two distinct systems coexist, complement, or come into tension within contemporary Diné life.

Through a personal introduction, my partner and I were invited to spend a week living with a respected local educator and apprentice in the Blessing Way tradition. Over the course of that week, we were given a rare window into daily life on the reservation—from intimate domestic moments to ceremonial preparation as well as hospital visits and visits with local medicine workers.

Rather than taking an extractive or documentary-only approach, the work unfolded slowly and with intention, led by Barney’s openness and guidance. What emerged were impressions a story about heritage, the imprtance of lan, care, and cultural knowledge in a landscape often misrepresented or overlooked.

This series of images captures fragments of that experience—moments that speak to the complexity of identity, the quiet rhythms of reservation life, and the ways tradition is held, practiced, and passed on.